March Madness

It's no secret that of all the college sports out there, football is my favorite. I like the game, the passion of the players, the season in which the sport is played. I love everything about college football except the debacle that presently defines the "postseason." While the regular season of college football is intense and exciting every single week, the "championship" is a let down, and quite frankly, a waste of time. Because there is no playoff system in college football, there is never a true national champion, but merely a winner of an arbitrary final matchup between two teams selected subjectively by a committee of observers. Not exactly a stellar demonstration of the true essence of sport: deciding a winner and a loser via head-to-head competition.

Contrast college football's postseason woes with the shining example of a true national championship contest in college basketball, and you begin to understand the magic of what college hoops fans call "March Madness." (Even though this blog is not a revenue-producing publication, I should make note of the fact that "March Madness" is a registered trademark of the NCAA, and I don't actually have any rights to use it. Not that I could afford the rights fee, so I'm going to use it anyway. I digress...) The few weeks in late March leading up to the Division 1 Men's Basketball Championship are some of the most exciting in all of college sports, and the TV money collected during this tournament alone is nearly enough to keep the entirety of the NCAA and its programs funded for the whole year.

What makes this style of championship competition so great is that it requires teams to prove their worth both during the regular season (in order to get invited to the postseason tournament), as well as on the court during the championship single-elimination tournament. "Little" teams get the opportunity to be matched up with "big" teams, and for the most part, the tournament becomes any team's championship to win. The college football mentality that only BCS-conference schools are important enough to play for a national championship does not exist in college basketball. If your team makes it into the 64-team championship bracket, it has a chance (even if only a small one) to play for a true national championship.

Here's hoping the NCAA men's basketball committee recognizes what a good thing it has going and leaves well enough alone for sports fans to enjoy each Spring for years to come. Perhaps the college football powers-that-be could learn a thing or two from their basketball counterparts...I won't hold my breath.