March Madness Madness

We want to welcome our very special guest blogger! Greg is of iconic stature among sports authorities, intramural three pointer kings and political pundits. Today, Greg sounds off about his thought on the expansion of the crown jewel of human innovation, the NCAA Tournament. Greg?

Let me preface my rant this way, I love March Madness. In my opinion, it’s the best sporting event around. I can sit and watch the games from morning to night. So, I was a little ticked when I heard that the NCAA is seriously considering expanding the field of 65, to the field of…96. Really? Why take something that can be tweaked a little and then blow it up into something unbearable. Is Obama running the NCAA now? Sorry to all the Obama lovers out there, I couldn’t resist!

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy more of many things I love. For example, at a fast food place, if I’m asked if I would like extra cheese, the response is always “absolutely”. But, 18 extra slices of cheese on my double-double is too much. And that’s how I feel about expansion.

There are only a few things better than getting my bracket and seeing what matchups I like and who has the easiest/toughest road to the Final 4. What would a bracket of 96 look like? Do the top 2 teams in each region get a bye? Look, I like reading Bracketology on espn.com. I like Lenardi’s predictions of the 1st four/next four out the tournament. I don’t look at it and say “We need to find a way to get those 8 teams in the tourney…and an additional 24 teams too.”

I hope the day never comes where I hear the following uttered:

“Finally, the A-10 got 4 teams in the tournament!”

“Yeah, it was a great tournament! Did you see that Marist/IUPUI-South Bend game?”

I find it funny the NCAA is so willing to expand. This is how I see the conversation going:

Me: If you expand you could make more money, but you’d ruin the whole thing.
NCAA: Great
Me: Student athletes would be away from campus more days.
NCAA: That’s fine
Me: They could potentially miss valuable class time that helps their education.
NCAA: They’re big boys, they can handle it.
Me: Ok then, how about an NCAA football playoff?
NCAA: F%$# You…

I’m not cheap, but I can be bought. If I hear a good argument in favor of expansion I could potentially change my mind. Until then, I ain’t budging.

I think the Madness can be tweaked. What about 3 more play in games in addition to the one already played? 2 play in games Tuesday and 2 games Wednesday. Each #1 seed gets a play in winner. I think any more games would have to add another weekend which I would be against. Feel free to sound off.

Greg

Thanks Greg, good stuff. Oh, and here is another picture of Jessica Biel.