Ahhhh... The post Super Bowl drag is over. The month of February is notoriously slow in the world of sports. The only thing of value is NBA All-Star Weekend. It was one of my favorite sporting events growing up, but it has lost a lot of value over the years, and it hasn't even been on network television for years since its demotion to cable's TNT. Although TNT does provide the best NBA analysis and studio coverage, not everybody tunes into TNT for sporting events.
Now it's time for March Madness. March Madness is the best sporting postseason available. Although the best team doesn't always win the title, it provides the most drama. We got 64 teams (the new 65th team doesn't count even though I learned it happened because our local Mountain West Conference being formed after the split from the WAC) and it's pure bracket winner take all.
Most people would say that college sports are the best because the players "play for the love of the game" unlike spoiled professional athletes that get paid millions of dollars to play a recreational game, but I actually do like NBA ball better. The talent is supreme, the games are higher-scoring, and it's better for television.
Although college has the true "hustle" factor going its way, the games are extra sloppy with kids diving everywhere for loose balls, trying to draw garbage charge fouls to impress their tyrant coaches and putting bricks galore from the high school three-point line. This is where guys can get a scholarship shooting 40 percent or less from the free-throw line. Even Shaq can hit within the 50-60 percent range.
But brackets come out on Sunday, and everybody loves brackets. Everybody! And sure enough, some idiot in your office pool wins every year because they picked the teams that sounded cute. Last year, I tried one bracket where I just picked the favorites from every game, and it didn't win. But hey, it's fun; it's good times. By the time the Final Four rolls around, it usually involves four teams I couldn't care less about, so I usually don't watch the Saturday games. But usually someone throws a decent party on Championship Monday and the socializing is good, but the game is usually extra, extra sloppy for a title game.
CBS still has to get rid of Billy Packer, but that'll never happen because he now has a special "cantankerous" appeal where people will watch to see what comes out of his mouth next, much like John Madden for the NFL and Bill Walton for the NBA. But that's a whole different entry in and of itself.
But anyway, happy brackets this week. Go BYU! May you finally get out of the first round.
I am actually much more excited for the upcoming NBA playoffs and how the seeding will occur. The NBA used to have a best-of-five playoff format for the first round, and when they switched it to best-of-seven, I thought it was a terrible idea. But now with the the Western Conference have the top-8 teams in with a projected 52 wins under each belt and only 5 games separating No. 1 through No. 8, it should be just as exciting as March Madness and probably even a lot more memorable.
Now if the Jazz can find a way to avoid the Spurs and the Lakers, it should make for some good basketball.
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4 comments:
march madness is indeed madness, and i am definitely one who loves me some brackets. i even fill out an nit bracket for the fun of it, and even--yikes--a women's bracket just for the heck of it, too.
this has been a great nba race in the west this season. it's too bad that i'll be out of the country for may and june with internet access once every couple weeks.
also, despite byu's recent mwc success, they always seem to get dropped a couple of spots and/or paired up with tough 1st round opponents. Ones they could beat if they played at the top of their game but never seem to quite get there.
examples:
03-(12v5seed) played tough but lost by 5 to okafor and gordon's uconn who won it the next year
04-(12v5) again, should've upset syracuse, but mcnamara decides to drop 40+ (over half their points) and byu loses by 5
07-(8v9) heartbreaking 2-pt loss to xavier who then took runner-up ohio state to ot and has been consistently in the top 10-ish this year.
conclusion: byu needs some selection love on top of playing their best.
as allen iverson would say, "man, we talkin' 'bout brackets! not a game--brackets!"
Hey Brad, it's Joe, hilarious Iverson comment. I think we do deserve a 5 or 6 seed, but we'll probably end up a 7 or 8 because the committee always puts BYU a little lower, and they deserve it anyway until they prove they can advance.
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