Five Reasons to Watch NCAA Madness
There are many reasons to watch the NCAA tournament this year.
There are more than five reasons to watch the NCAA tournament, but here are the five most important. The reasons range anywhere from Michael Beasley to All My Children.
If this article is the sole reason you watch the tournament, then you are insane, but at least I’ve done my job.
Its title, March Madness, is honestly an understatement. It is the Super Bowl of basketball, it will make your average male sports fan more excited than Tom Cruise on Oprah. It has the ability to turn a gambler into a poor man and a drinker into an alcoholic. What Christmas is to every little boy and girl, March Madness is to every grown man who needs to escape trips to Home Depot and Bed Bath and Beyond with the spouse.
It is guaranteed to be full of buzzer beaters, unbelievable upsets, and impossible highlights that make you want to hunt for the flat basketball buried in your garage that you won out of a machine for a quarter at the local mall. And of course, the brackets. The one document every year that for a few weeks, you cherish and hold onto more than your college diploma or birth certificate. Then, come April, that piece of paper you held near and dear is probably torn into pieces with more eraser marks and red ink than your third grade history exam.
I’ll spare you anymore metaphors and just get right down to it, the top five reasons why you should watch every moment of the madness.
5. The top two or three players on most of the 65 teams are NBA prospects. And for some, though there will be great promise, these games could be the highlight of their careers. For example, Christian Laettner. Aside from his at times freak show hair cut, or his lengthy less-than mediocre tour in the NBA where he played on half the teams the association has to offer, there is only one reason why we even know who he is. His turn around jumper from the charity stripe with a split second left became the poster-child moment for all buzzer beating shots. If I had to describe the ending of a Bulls game that ended with a buzzer beating shot to a friend, all I would have to say is, “it was Christian Laettner all over again, ” he would know exactly what I was referring to.
4. Though some college prospects never flourish into NBA superstars, a select few will, and for players like Mike Beasley, O.J. Mayo, Roy Hibbert, Kevin Love, and others, this tournament will catapult them into the draft and into possible super stardom.
3. The madness is great, but it also runs parallel with daytime TV, which is about as interesting as the WNBA. Nothing else is on, unless you are one of those All My Children die-hard fanatics. So if you work, keep that refresh button handy on your computer (Tip: the F5 button should do the trick), if not, sit back, relax and enjoy watching quality television before the sun goes down.
2. It is refreshing to watch young ego-less athletes who are “unpaid” compete at the top level. Shortly after the tournament, they will all sell their souls to David Stern for millions of dollars and most likely a seat on the bench, so enjoy it while it lasts.
1. The number one reason to watch the tournament, the bracket. I have decided this year not to put any money on my picks of integrity, but rather to try and enjoy the tournament for what it is, without losing my years salary at Finishline. However, most will actually watch the University of North Carolina stomp Mount St. Mary’s just to ensure another pick is correct. Keep an eye out for upsets, because every year they seem impossible when filling out your bracket, but they will occur, and instead of tearing up your bracket this year, at least use it to wipe your tears when you are left crying after Belmont defeats Duke and Drake takes home the National Championship.
