And so it begins... This is my favorite time of the year in the world of sports. March madness. The greatest sports event period. Better than the Superbowl. I love College Hoops. Why? Passion. College students play with an unbelieveable amount of passion. Some are working to impress NBA scouts to get that lurcritive contract, but most are playing to win. The energy and the drive inside a college basketball arena is unequaled. PLayers play seriously hurt, their bench seems to live and die with every close shot, and when the underdog wins the fans storm the court. Love it. Even better now. No little BCS ranking system, no 7 game playoff series, and no screwing the number three team in the nation out of a chance. Or number four....five...twenty-two....fifty etc. 65 teams. The last two playing to see who gets that last spot. Then... 64 teams in the country are thrown into one large tourny... last one standing wins. Win... or go home. Now, for me, the best part is Days 1-4 (which I will be spending in Vegas this year puttinga bet on EVERY game). Where the field goes from 64 to 16. Thursday and Friday, where 32 games are played, buzzer beaters, major upsets, bracket busting and mircale preformances. Close to that are the small confrence tournaments. Each leauge has its own tournament. The winner, gets to go to the dance, regardless on their leauge record. This small glimmer of hope, which is usually just, to be one of the 64... and then get beat in the first round... makes these games all the sweeter. Last night watching the Loyola-Marymount vs. Gonzaga game you could tell intensity was at its height. Gonzaga playing to preserve their tittle, and LMU... playing for just a chance... just a taste of the big show. You could see the pain in the LMU players after a heartbreaking loss. Coming so close to that light that seemed almost unatainable... only to come up JUST short. The sweet taste of victory... the agony of defeate. NCAA basketball championships are fought for tooth and nail for victory. 64/65 teams go into it... one comes out. Win or Go Home! -Marteney |