Bracket Time

In general, I pay almost no attention to college basketball. Maybe that's because the Gophers haven't been good in about a decade, but it's also kind of because there are so many damn teams it would take a ridiculous amount of time to actually be aware of them all, let alone know anything about them.

However, I do love the NCAA tournament. In fact I think it's one of the best sporting events of the year, especially the first weekend. During the first two rounds (the first round is Thursday and Friday, the second Saturday and Sunday) there are so many games going on that invariably three things happen:

First, there are always good, close games. The teams are so pumped up that everyone is playing their best, and you always end up with amazing plays in the final minutes and seconds that decide the game.

Second, there are always upsets, or at least possible upsets. Sure, a 16th seed has never beaten a 1st seed, and only two 2nd seeds have fallen to 15th seeds in the past 10 years, but other than that, I guarantee that over the next two days teams that experts picked to go deep into the tournament will lose. Brackets will be shattered. People will look like morons.

Third, there are so many games in the first two rounds that it creates a unique situation in modern sports: there will be almost no commentating. Sure, the courtside people who are calling the games will make comments and talk about matchups and stuff, but there's no post-game wrapup from the main desk. Just Bob Costas saying "And now that you've just watched that thrilling conclusion, we're going to send you out West where there's an even bigger upset brewing...." Just great basketball back-to-back-to-back.