Thursday 13 - Madness
Posted: Thursday, March 15, 2007 by Travis Cody inHere are 13 things I love about the NCAA Tournament.
1. Pete Carril and Cinderella Princeton, on one of the most basic plays in the game - a simple back door cut - beats defending champion UCLA 43-41.
2. I love the score/stat tickers at the top and bottom of the screen.
3. My CBS affiliate is channel 7. And Comcast has a secondary channel 117 for CBS. So now I can flip between the channels during commercials and halftime.
4. I have so much respect for the Kentucky Unforgetables - Richie Farmer, Deron Feldhaus, John Pelphrey, and Sean Woods - but for Duke fans this is the moment of moments in the game of games. This is arguably the best college basketball game ever. It was the 1992 East Regional Final, #6 Kentucky against #1 Duke. Duke won on this incredible play, 104-103 in overtime.
5. The moment in the game between a 16 seed and a 1 seed when you think the upset might just be possible. Sometimes it's the first basket scored by the lower seed, and the score is 2-0. Sometimes the moment comes late in the game, when the #1 seed just hasn't been able to pull away, and the lower seed gets within a bucket. And you think...is this the year? It's a fleeting moment. And it's a pure tournament moment. A 16 seed has never beaten a 1. But the day is coming when it will happen.
6. Selection Sunday.
7. Moments of heart-stopping joy and mind-numbing defeat.
8. More unreal moments.
9. The rise of the mid-major conferences is changing the tournament. Butler, out of the Horizon League, is a 5 seed in the tournament, while Duke, one of the premier college basketball programs of the last 20 years out of the Atlantic Coast Conference, is seeded 6.
10. Filling out the bracket and trying to figure out which 12 will beat a 5, and whether this year it makes sense to pick a 15 upset over a 2. Where's the gotcha game for a 1 seed? What hot highly ranked team will fall to a determined lower seed on a buzzer beater? How quickly will your bracket be busted?
11. Coming to grips with the fact that your expertise will most likely be eclipsed by the total novice who fills out his/her bracket based on which school mascot would win in a cage match.
12. Where else will you find terms like Sweet 16, Elite 8, Final 4? It's March Madness baby!
13. One Shining Moment.
Oh. My.
I'm still wiping the tears from my face, and the goosebumps are still raised on my arms.
You know, I adore football, but there is something magical about the NCAA tournament, and I think it's because "at any given moment" a game can be decided in the final .1 second of a game. While that outcome can be heartbreaking to the losing side, a fan of the sport HAS to appreciate the fact that Cinderella CAN wear the slipper.