Sunday, March 21, 2010

Magical Madness

This week-end marked the beginning of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Tournament, aka the Road to the Final Four. These guys have it figured out. Let's get 64 deserving teams together for a single elimination tournament. It produces drama, excitement, and anything can happen. It makes people watch. It is fun.

For three week-ends at the end of March and the start of April we can be transported to a world where all that matters is heart. Where you have to play every second of every game with such effort and determination. It's moments like this that turn boys into men.

For all the pageantry and excitement the tournament can also be cruel. Half the teams will not win a game each year. Three quarters are done by the end of the first week-end. Failure is not rewarded in any way. The only way to keep playing is to keep winning. I think that finality is part of what makes this even so special.

This year there have been a lot of upsets. I have been watching a lot of basketball. There is such an energy to games in the tournament. There has to be. One loss and you have no chance to come back. With the nature of basketball, you just have to stay close and you have a real chance to win at the end.

The folks at the NCAA have got it right for this one. I like the tournament just the way it is and I hope they never change a thing.

4 comments:

  1. NCAA tournament and Tiger Woods but you completely ignore the paralympics? Great to see yet another ignorant sports fan who sucks on ESPN's Teet and ignores the triumph of humankind over adversity.

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  2. Afraid to post my comments eh?

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  3. Unfortunately I did not have reliable internet access for about a week. I always post comments as long as they have words in them.

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  4. Sorry but I am with Brent. Watching a guy slowly follow another guy down a ski hill is not my idea of entertainment. Not that Brent actually said he did not like Paralympics.

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