In case you were wondering how the star of Curb Your Enthusiasm and Seinfeld co-creator fills out his bracket, well, he doesn’t. While most of you complain about your brackets being busted because of Duquesne and Mississippi State, Larry David is having trouble just following along.
Of course, this is the same David, who in the fourth episode of Curb, saw his TV wife (Cheryl Hines) get mad at him because he continued to watch a football game on TV instead of talking to her after she returned from a trip. So, how could we expect him to follow more than one game at a time?
David, whose sports discussions tend to be quirky, was asked by Rich Eisen on The Rich Eisen Show about his history of filling out brackets.
If anyone wonders if Larry David fills out a bracket, wonder no more. An emphatic response herein: ⬇️pic.twitter.com/a7D5ODhlBZ
— Rich Eisen (@richeisen) March 21, 2024
“You know what, can I make an admission here?” asked David. “This tournament — how much can I follow in sports? I’m supposed to know who’s on Drake? I mean, this is crazy; crazy. Valparaiso? I know names on Valparaiso? This is insane. I don’t know anything. Maybe I’ll watch the semifinal, but that’s it. What can I do? I’ve got the Rangers, I’ve got the Knicks; I can’t follow all these teams. How do people do it? How do they do it?”
It would be a missed opportunity not to joke about Larry David hating the Drake. Perhaps he’ll learn to love the Drake if the Missouri Valley Conference Champions make an improbable run to the semifinal, which would have to start with knocking off seven-seeded Washington State.
David had enough trouble getting the TiVo repairman to come over. Should we expect him to know how to use YouTube TV multiview? Of course not.
“Who are they married to?” David quipped
Not Cheryl Hines, apparently.
David said he did fill out one bracket, but they were all guesses.
Eisen then pivoted the conversation to Long Beach State, the team that had just informed head coach Dan Monson that his contract wouldn’t be extended. Despite this surprising news, which broke just before the 2024 Big West Tournament, the program and Monson agreed to a temporary separation. Monson would stay on to coach the team through the tournament, a gamble that ultimately paid off with a Long Beach State victory. As a result, Monson’s coaching tenure would extend into the NCAA Tournament.
Monson compared his situation to the Seinfeld character George Costanza (Jason Alexander) once encountered. Seinfeld fans may remember Costanza’s attempts to get fired from the New York Yankees.
“You guys remember when George Costanza was trying to get fired? And couldn’t lose his job? And still, going to work every day? That’s me. I’m a Seinfeld episode going on in real life,” Monson said.
"I don't have to answer anything I don't want to because I'm working for free today" 😂😂😂
Long Beach State coach Dan Monson, who was fired before the Big West Tournament, is still coaching after the team made the NCAA Tournamentpic.twitter.com/yAaWfuTyQz
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 20, 2024
This bizarre situation with Long Beach State left David completely baffled. The irony, of course, wasn’t lost on him. This real-life scenario mirrored an episode of Seinfeld that aired after he departed from the show. But another episode was also referenced here, the one where George Costanza dramatically quits his job, only to return the next day as if nothing happened.
“In real life, I quit SNL. I freaked out; I quit,” explained David. “And then I came back on Monday morning and pretended it never happened. That was my neighbor Kramer’s (idea), the real Kramer. You know what? I thought it could work. I thought it was a great idea. I thought I had nothing to lose. Maybe I’d be embarrassed if he said, ‘What are you doing? You’re fired. Get the hell out of here.’ Eh, OK, I would’ve done that and left. But I thought it was worth a shot because, for me at the time, it was a lot of money.
David likened the Long Beach State situation to his own experience. He’d grown frustrated on Saturday Night Live, felt his ideas were constantly rejected, and eventually quit. But then, he (humorously) described his return as awkward and unsuccessful. Ironically, it ended up working out for both of them. Just like David eventually found his way back to Seinfeld, Monson, despite losing his “first game back” as coach (due to the pre-arranged separation agreement), was still leading the team into the NCAA Tournament.
“Good for him. Where is he, Long Beach State? That’s a college?” he asked in typical Larry David fashion. “There’s so many. How can there be so many athletes? How can so many people play these games? Look at all these colleges and high schools; they all have teams. Let’s go to the colleges, there are really good people playing on these teams. How could there be so many great players?”
With so many unfamiliar faces on the court, David, who readily admits his ignorance of college basketball players beyond the star Caitlin Clark, will likely only tune in for the semifinals when the field narrows.
[The Rich Eisen Show on Twitter/X]
