The Madness in March

I don't really follow college basketball that closely. Sure, I watch SportsCenter on a near daily basis and listen to all the stories, but I probably couldn't name more than a half dozen premier players (and that includes Derrick Jasper). Still, I always get a little giddy when March rolls around because I know tournament time is close.

Championship week is like the catnip, as all the dominos start to fall into place and you read stories about teams on the bubble that are playing for their post-season lives. Coaches careers are made a broken during the span of an hour when ESPN announces the 65-team field.

The NCAA Men's College Basketball tournament is unlike any other sporting event, and it's one of my favorite three-week periods of the year. Beginning with the opening weekend's mad, jam-packed game schedule and concluding with the semi-final and final game weeks later, the tournament is packed with unforgettable games each year.

One of the things I like best about the tournament is the way it brings people together. It reaches across demographics, from die-hard fans to casual observers in a way no other sporting event can. The reason is because the tournament is wildly unpredictable. Sure, there are usually a few top teams that make it through to the final game, but in all the steps leading up to that moment you never know what's going to happen. Yearly there is a small team from a little school that goes on a wildly unbelievable run.

Yesterday, as I watched a panel of six "experts" offer their Elite 8 and Final Four picks, one of them picked Cornell into the Final Four. Cornell — an Ivy League establishment known for its academics, not its athletics. Yet I didn't even blink. I jotted it down as a good note for when I filled out my own bracket. That's the power of the tournament, and that's why we love it so much.

Inevitably my own bracket is useless by the first Sunday, but I never care. It's about the adventure, the drama, and seeing athletes reach new heights that few outside their own locker room believed were possible. We love to root for the underdog, the little guy, and with the tournament, sometimes those underdogs rule the pride.

So if you want to have fun on Thursday, grab a bracket, a pen, a bowl of chips and get ready for the most unpredictable three weeks in sports!

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