The Onset of Madness

The Greatest Sports phenomenon in America will commence in fifteen days. The NCAA Basketball tournament is arguably the most compelling sporting event each year in this nation. From Tucson, AZ to East Lansing, MI to Spokane, WA and Syracuse, NY and Lexington, KY and Lawrence, KS and all over the country. These cities and towns each rally behind their basketball teams without pretense or expectation. The NCAA Basketball Tournament is their Championship Tournament. There are no salary caps, free agents or demands for a new facility. It is un-jaded passion and hope everlasting from the heartland. It is an Arlo Guthrie song in tennis shoes!

During ten days in March and an amazing weekend in April, 64 games will be played by 65 College Basketball teams. Each game will be televised on radio and television into every hamlet of America. There will be over 700,000 people who will attend these games rooting for the Wild Cats, The Cardinal, the Great Danes or the Salukis. CBS owns the rights but they subcontract out coverage to TNT, TBS, and ESPN1-8. There will be millions of others who will root from their living rooms, local bars, or both.

Heroes will emerge and potential champions will be vanquished. There will be a 3.8 second moment of basketball brilliance that will decide a game, define a moment and be immorialized on ESPN three times a year for the next 23 years. Christian Laettner snagging a 68 foot pass from Grant Hill and draining a 15 foot jumper with 2.1 seconds in 1992 has played twice today, somewhere. Tyus Edney going end line to winning basket in 4.8 seconds in 1995 to save UCLA as the Bruins go on to win their 11^th National Title, is an immortal moment.

With the scope and grandeur of this epic event, some of you may be wondering, “How do I catch this fever?” For the most devout, you know the drill. For the more casual fan, who wants to take it to the next level for 2.5 weeks and then back it down gradually in the aftermath, let me share some easy steps to immerse yourself manageably:

Conduct an inventory on your work and your personal life. You will need to cut back in both areas with discretion. It is only 19 days, your work should be forgiving and your children will need to familiarize themselves with public transportation. You need a stout broadband connection and a 3/17/08 copy of USA Today. This is important stuff but don’t get fired, divorced or have Family Services visit your home unannounced during your quest.

Once you have cleared all of those nagging responsibilities, enroll yourself in a basketball pool. Do not despair if you do not know that much about College Basketball. The participants in most pools do not either. The upside is that you can pick whoever you want and root for them with unbridled passion. You will watch channels on your HD package that you did not know that you even had. You can post internet trash talk until someone figures out that your Final Four teams already got lanced. Then you can disappear until 2009. It is no different than being on Oprah’s book list without the money. Go to Yahoo, go to ESPN, e-mail me but get involved. I only ask, would you rather watch ESPN IV to see who won the Wisconsin-Detroit Mercy game, or CNN to find out who won the Ohio Primary?

Http:// Madness in March//Menu/Help

Do not pick a #16 Seed to win unless…no there is no “unless”, do not do it. No #16 Pick has never won a game. If you put $5 on the Dolphins to win the 2008 Super Bowl, go for it.

Historically, #15 Seeds are 4-80 in the tournament and #14 Seeds are 14-70. Even if one of those teams wins Game One, they never, ever win Game Dos. Pick your upsets with the #10-12 Seeds.

The Pac-10 has two of the best teams in the country in UCLA and Stanford. The Cardinal will play the Bruins on Thursday night and maybe again in the Pac-10 tournament. UCLA has played well but Stanford is playing some of the best basketball in the conference at..NOW!

The Big East looks very solid with Georgetown, Louisville and Connecticut all playing very well and West Virginia is a sleeper. The Big East Tournament will be outstanding, watch it. The ACC has the highest RPI rating of any conference. Duke and North Carolina are as advertised but beyond them, no other ACC teams will be playing after Easter. Kansas and Texas will battle for a #1 seed from the Big 12. Michigan State is playing very well and the Big 10 always does well in the tournament. The rest you need to figure out on your own.

You do not need to review game film unless you can. If you do the deep dive, defense and low post play are more important in the tournament. Teams that play the perimeter struggle in April. The rims get smaller with each successive weekend. If the shots are not falling, good defense will always keep you close until one does. It is a “been there, done that” time of the year with more anxiety and less Gatorade. Coaching will be most important every weekend in March. Talent will win the championship on the first Monday of April.

A Champion will be decided not by a vote by the USA Today Coaches or the AP Sportswriters. The Champion will win six games in front of the nation, their families and our neighborhoods. Their exploits will be immortalized in our hearts and on sweat shirts at the campus book store.