The Best Tournament In Sports?

Something struck me Monday night, struck me like Sean Avery at the Geisha House when I showed up with Cuthbert to grab some drinks. This fist of knowledge was nothing more than a light bulb being turned on. I sat through the entire National Championship game, every minute of it. My friend Matt was basking in the glory of a 2nd National Title in 4 years, and wearing my stolen UNC shirt in the process. You would think I would be excited over the biggest game in College Basketball, the culmination of the greatest tournament in sports. I enjoyed 6 minutes.
But come on, it’s the Greatest Tournament in Sports, isn’t it? Well… not really. Known for its buzzer beaters, upsets, and epic battles that transcend into the NBA for decades, I would say the last few tournaments are 0 for 3. Buzzer beaters are magical, and Scottie Reynolds certainly had me out of my seat. But out of 64 games, the Reynolds layup and a VCU near upset were the only games that I even raised an eyebrow at. Sure the Western Kentucky Gonzaga match up was epic, but only if you live in Spokane or Western Kentucky. I’m sorry but the drama was not there. The reason for this is that most teams in the tournament just are not that competitive, and have no business being in the national championship picture. Was U of A one of the top 16 teams in the country? Nope. That is why they got ran out of the building by the 'Ville; a game in which the verdict was extremely apparent early on and I watched a total of 3 minutes. Nothing great about that. Last year all four number 1 seeds were in the final four, this year all 1 through 3 seeds made the sweet sixteen. The National Champion Tar Heals did not play a competitive game all tournament long. If one selected every favorite in his bracket, he would have been in the 98th percentile nationally on ESPN.com. This does not say much to the entertainment value of the Tourney, and certainly is not Madness.
Thirdly, the Ewing / Morning battles of the 80’s are long gone. The best players in college are one and done. Rose, Oden, Durant, Mayo. All household names for the month of March, and that’s that. The one and dones have changed basketball forever, stealing rivalries and replacing them with recruiting violations. I have no emotional connection to Blake Griffin, even after two years. But if next year he were to lead an undefeated OU team into Austin against D.J. Augustine and Kevin Durant, no one would miss a tick.
Because the magic, the Madness of March, has slipped away, I propose we rethink what we call the Greatest Tournament in Sports. Because if what you want is drama, controversy, competitiveness, passion, a connection to players, upsets, rivalries, and entertainment, than the tournament you want takes place between September and the first week in January. It’s called the College Football Season. The Madness in Corvallis, at the Texas State Fair, in the Georgia Dome, and in Lubbock all makes the NCAA Tournament resemble High School Badminton. Michael Crabtree’s catch still gives me chills. Everyone remembers where they were when they got the text that USC had lost. Everyone knows every word to Tim Tebow’s prophecy, and remembers thinking that it was coming true when he led his troops in the 4th Quarter against #1 Alabama. Drama? We got your drama. I give you Tyrrell Pryor, after giving the bird to the rest of the Big Ten, with the ball in his hands, down 7, with minutes to go against undefeated Penn State. I give you Jordan Shipley and Colt McCoy, two best friends from a town of 400 in West Texas single handedly winning the Red River Shoot Out. Texas? Florida? SC? Oklahoma? Who belongs in New Orleans? I know you have an opinion, and I have an opinion, and we can both be right. Now that is Madness. Mind you it is only ONE SEASON. ONE SEASON brought us all this magic. What did the NCAA Tourney give us? That’s right… Scottie Reynolds. I totally forgot for a second, and in about 2 weeks, I will have forgotten forever. I will never forget last fall, or the one before that, or the one before that. I give you The Best Tournament in Sports.