Monday, March 15, 2004
Let the Madness Begin!
Despite the title of my blog, I usually try to avoid talking about sports in it. (Along with religion and politics.) I talk enough about sports as it is, plus I know that if I mention any sport, Dave Shear will take it as an invitation to mention golf in the comments section, and I just can't condone that behavior. If it's any consolation, Dave, car racing is rapidly climbing on the lists of sports I detest, although I'm not quite sure it's overtaken golf yet. But, as usual, I digress.
So, aside from mentioning that the University of Maryland Terrapins just beat the evil Duke Blue Devils (Do you doubt they're evil? Look at their mascot!) to win their first ACC Tournament in a long time, I'm not going to mention any particular players or team by name. However, the NCAA Tournament is upon us, and despite the incredible overuse of the insipid marketing phrase "March Madness" (and aside from the fact that the finals actually take place in April - "Awesome April" ? Argh!) I can't help but get excited about the tournament every year.
I'm a huge baseball fan and follow it religiously. I'll follow football, and enjoy watching it, but that's about it. However, for three weeks in spring, I'm engrossed in the NCAA tourney. I don't like basketball - I actually can't stand pro basketball, and really don't even follow the regular college season. But when the tourney starts, I'm hooked.
One reason is that I think it's one of the "purest" events in sports. The players are all amateurs. Quite a few go to the pros, but the large percentage of them don't. Schools can give scholarships, but there are limits on those, and the perks are tightly regulated. This levels the playing field greatly. There are academic regulations for players as well. For the most part, the players aren't playing for money or ulterior motives, but because they just like playing the game. Furthermore, almost none of them are famous, so it hasn't yet gone to their heads, even if they're BMOC. They generally care about their teammates and don't act obnoxious or like prima donnas. It's really the way most sports should be.
Then there's the fact that it's a single elimination tournament, which means that almost anything can happen. Screw up once, and you're gone. It's really a test of who can perform under pressure. Yeah, teams get lucky, but that just makes it more exciting. To win the whole thing, you have to win 6 games in a row, so if you win, it's not a fluke. Teams get upset all the time, which just adds to the excitement.
The final piece is, I think, the office pools, which all you to partake in the excitement. I'm sure you've seen people filling out the brackets - basically, you pay a small fee, and the person who predicts the results most accurately wins the pot. What's nice about this particular event is that there's enough randomness to allow basketball-ignorant people to compete with the basketball junkies. Furthermore, the seedings give you good clues about who's a good team and who's not. Plus, since you have something vested in the outcome, if you don't normally follow college basketball, or your team goes out early, you can still root for your pool picks to do well. Add to the fact that it's all on a compressed time schedule - 48 games in the first 4 days, and it gets to be really fun.
If you haven't participated before, I urge you to do so. You probably won't have to look very far to join a pool. I promise you you'll be hooked. Here's a link to this year's bracket. I know I sound like a corporate shill, but go check it out. Pretty soon you'll be on your couch screaming for the Southern Utah College of Mines to upset Central Nebraska Tech. Madness indeed.
So, aside from mentioning that the University of Maryland Terrapins just beat the evil Duke Blue Devils (Do you doubt they're evil? Look at their mascot!) to win their first ACC Tournament in a long time, I'm not going to mention any particular players or team by name. However, the NCAA Tournament is upon us, and despite the incredible overuse of the insipid marketing phrase "March Madness" (and aside from the fact that the finals actually take place in April - "Awesome April" ? Argh!) I can't help but get excited about the tournament every year.
I'm a huge baseball fan and follow it religiously. I'll follow football, and enjoy watching it, but that's about it. However, for three weeks in spring, I'm engrossed in the NCAA tourney. I don't like basketball - I actually can't stand pro basketball, and really don't even follow the regular college season. But when the tourney starts, I'm hooked.
One reason is that I think it's one of the "purest" events in sports. The players are all amateurs. Quite a few go to the pros, but the large percentage of them don't. Schools can give scholarships, but there are limits on those, and the perks are tightly regulated. This levels the playing field greatly. There are academic regulations for players as well. For the most part, the players aren't playing for money or ulterior motives, but because they just like playing the game. Furthermore, almost none of them are famous, so it hasn't yet gone to their heads, even if they're BMOC. They generally care about their teammates and don't act obnoxious or like prima donnas. It's really the way most sports should be.
Then there's the fact that it's a single elimination tournament, which means that almost anything can happen. Screw up once, and you're gone. It's really a test of who can perform under pressure. Yeah, teams get lucky, but that just makes it more exciting. To win the whole thing, you have to win 6 games in a row, so if you win, it's not a fluke. Teams get upset all the time, which just adds to the excitement.
The final piece is, I think, the office pools, which all you to partake in the excitement. I'm sure you've seen people filling out the brackets - basically, you pay a small fee, and the person who predicts the results most accurately wins the pot. What's nice about this particular event is that there's enough randomness to allow basketball-ignorant people to compete with the basketball junkies. Furthermore, the seedings give you good clues about who's a good team and who's not. Plus, since you have something vested in the outcome, if you don't normally follow college basketball, or your team goes out early, you can still root for your pool picks to do well. Add to the fact that it's all on a compressed time schedule - 48 games in the first 4 days, and it gets to be really fun.
If you haven't participated before, I urge you to do so. You probably won't have to look very far to join a pool. I promise you you'll be hooked. Here's a link to this year's bracket. I know I sound like a corporate shill, but go check it out. Pretty soon you'll be on your couch screaming for the Southern Utah College of Mines to upset Central Nebraska Tech. Madness indeed.
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