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March Madness...ugh

The annual ode to the best postseason in sports and dig at the worst

Wouldn't it be great if tomorrow's game between BYU and Florida didn't mark the beginning of a month-long tournament that captivates the nation each year, but was rather simply a meeting of two above average teams at a neutral location that signified the end of the season for both the winner and the loser?

And wouldn't it also be great if there were like 30 more of these games?

Wouldn't you love to have to wait around for another three weeks to watch a pair of teams that haven't played in so long that you've forgotten most of their players' names duke it out in the only game that has any bearing on who wins the national championship?

And you know all those computers out there predicting the winners for each game in the big dance? Wouldn't it be great if those same computers actually had a major impact on which two teams were selected to play in the aforementioned title game?

Wouldn't it have been great if Stephen Curry and Davidson had played one game against Winthrop two years ago instead of four against Gonzaga, Georgetown, Wisconsin and Kansas?

Don't you just love not really knowing who the national champion is at the end of the season, or the fact that even if you think you do, someone can make a legitimate case for another team and you can't really say anything compelling outside of "my team would have beaten your team?"

Remember how Kentucky was ranked fourth in the preseason poll and Syracuse wasn't ranked at all? Wouldn't it be great if the Wildcats were chosen to play for the national championship over the Orange for that reason alone?

Don't you hate having multiple games to choose from at all hours for four days straight? I mean enough is enough, right?

Weren't you stunned when Villanova lost to Temple by ten less than a month into the season? Wouldn't it have been sweet if the Wildcats had been forced to play for the next two and-a-half months with the full knowledge that their chances of winning a second national title had already been crushed?

Don't you love the laid-back postseason atmosphere of a three-quarters empty stadium in mid-to-late December?

Is New Mexico one of the best teams in the country even though they play in a lightly regarded, non-power conference? There's only one way to find out: a single game against another team that also may or may not be one of the best in the country.

Shouldn't Butler have to go through more to win a national title than teams like Duke, Kansas and Kentucky simply because those three schools have won more championships and made more money for the NCAA in the past?

Didn't you hate that Boise State Fiesta Bowl game a few years back? Aren't you glad they didn't get to play another, more important game afterward?

Eight-word message to college basketball: obscure sponsors in the title of every game.

Can't we all agree that Louisville was a better team than NC State in 1983, and that the sports world would be a much better place had Lorenzo Charles never set foot on that Albuquerque floor 25 years ago?

Don't you love arguing over which conference is the strongest for multiple months and then never really getting the chance to have your position backed up or shot down because of unbalanced postseason ties?

Don't you just hate March?

Wake me when it's time for the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl.

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i love it

…that being said, almost anything looks great standing beside col. football. Some might say that, examined outside of that context, college basketball is as ugly as sports can get, the best argument for that case being just down the road from us. I don’t like being a Debbie Downer but it’s true.

by yawnz on Mar 17, 2010 10:06 AM EDT reply actions  

preach on

College football postseason is a joke.
As far as Mr. Pierce’s commentary: He’s right, but doesn’t he think college football suffers from the same problems. And in terms of compensation, these players do get compensated above the table, free educations that are otherwise valued at somewhere between $50,000 and $100,000 depending upon the school. That’s a pretty good salary for a teenager no matter how you slice it.

e

by ericdedwar on Mar 17, 2010 10:48 AM EDT reply actions  

The number

could actually break $200,000 if you assume they get scholarships for living expense and tuition and some tuition is 30,000 a year or more.

by REALISTICCARDSFAN on Mar 17, 2010 2:14 PM EDT up reply actions  

the education only counts as compensation if you want it, otherwise its a burden as much as a benefit. and college football has similar problems but not the same. there is no arbitrary age rule keeping football players out of the NFL even if they are physically mature enough.

by yawnz on Mar 17, 2010 5:36 PM EDT up reply actions  

I think you have to wait 2 years after your high school graduating class graduates or something. Clarett tried to sue to go early and they wouldn’t let him.

They gone have to stop sleeping on me one day.. I gotta be one of the best

About 3 hours ago by Eric Wright Cleveland Browns – Cornerback

by Villeslgr on Mar 18, 2010 12:01 PM EDT up reply actions  

My bad it’s 3 years.

They gone have to stop sleeping on me one day.. I gotta be one of the best

About 3 hours ago by Eric Wright Cleveland Browns – Cornerback

by Villeslgr on Mar 18, 2010 12:05 PM EDT up reply actions  

Yes!

I love knowing which four teams have a chance to play for the championship before the season starts!

by Final4Galore on Mar 17, 2010 12:12 PM EDT reply actions  

That Charles Pierce piece in Salon ought to be must reading

for all fans of college basketball. Thanks to yawnz from the link. Priceless it is, and a perfect commentary on that “perfect marriage” in Lexington.

theoldman

by theoldman on Mar 17, 2010 1:09 PM EDT reply actions  

Yes

a must read for all. It’s funny how people down the road like to use words like class, tradition, and history, yet will hire anyone and will win at any cost (see scandals throughout their history). I completely forgot about the “Mexican idiot” comment from years past. The guy is is sleazy as it gets, but the blue zombies are amazing blind apologists for winning.

Maddie in Portland, Oregon

by kentuckybred on Mar 17, 2010 1:45 PM EDT up reply actions  

It's all a matter of perspective

Wouldn’t it be great if Duke had to play AN ENTIRE SEASON of meaningful games rather just a handful, right at the end?

Wouldn’t it be great if the basketball season mattered for 95% of its duration rather than just the final 5%?

Wouldn’t it be great if the great players you watched play basketball this year were, ya know, around for more than just that one year?

Bowls might be silly to some, the end of the cfb season might be frustrating to many but it is still, by far, a much more entertaining and interesting season of sport than college basketball is.

by cfbtoday on Mar 17, 2010 6:27 PM EDT reply actions  

95% of college basketball season doesn't matter?

Three teams with LOSING records made bowls last year. (Worst record in Madness: 17-10.)

Ask perennial powers like UNC and UConn if the regular season matters.

Longest Atlanta Falcons winning-seasons streak: 2008 - current
The Falcoholic · Blog · Twitter

by Jason Kirk on Mar 17, 2010 7:38 PM EDT up reply actions  

TYPO 17-15

Longest Atlanta Falcons winning-seasons streak: 2008 - current
The Falcoholic · Blog · Twitter

by Jason Kirk on Mar 17, 2010 7:39 PM EDT up reply actions  

you're bullshitting yourself

if you think the only thing that matters is conference tournaments

how much does the BCS pay you to troll blogs?

by GoalieLax on Mar 17, 2010 9:00 PM EDT up reply actions  

Except when a team loses in college football, the season only matters if you’re worried about getting in the “Damn I Forgot my Wallet hope I can Bum Some Money From That Guy at Work who Never Showers but Always Says Sup to me in the Elevator on the Way in and Sometimes says Yo if We Enter the Bathroom at the Sametime but that’s Just Weird so I Ignore Him, Usually, and Think About that Secretary on the First Floor Who Always Wears that One Shirt Where if You, I mean, the College Bowl Season is a Joke Bowl”

They gone have to stop sleeping on me one day.. I gotta be one of the best

About 3 hours ago by Eric Wright Cleveland Browns – Cornerback

by Villeslgr on Mar 18, 2010 12:09 PM EDT up reply actions  

Yay, basketball!

In college basketball, a mid-major upsetting a team that finished in sixth place in its major conference is considered a selling point. In football, it’s the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl. Does the madness refer to the upset or trying to give that game meaning?

The dude abides.

by imarealist on Mar 18, 2010 10:04 AM EDT reply actions  

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