(Hip Early 1970's
Cheech & Chong Reference)
For the past four days, I, like many American sports fans, spent most of my waking hours jonesing on the first and second rounds of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, aka, March Madness. Maybe it was the fact that there was no tournament last year, or maybe it was the fact that this COVID-induced disjointed college hoops season caused me to not get fully engaged in the sport until now, but whatever the reason, man oh man, did I enjoy these last four days in front of the tube.
And, yes, I have random observations to make, and here they are, in no particular order of importance......
First round upsets in the tournament are always fun and exciting, but when the dust settles and the Sweet Sixteen is determined, it is usually the Blue Bloods of college basketball that remain standing. Only Oral Roberts University can be considered a "cinderella" at this point. Of the other fifteen schools, ten are from Power Five conferences, two are from the basketball rich Big East, and Gonzaga, Loyola, and Houston, while they are not P5 schools, they are all rich in hoops tradition.
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Yes, Creighton is a member of the Big East. Last time I looked, Nebraska was still west of the Mississippi River.
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Maybe it's because I live in an eastern city, but I find that coverage of college basketball contains a HUGE East Coast and Midwest bias. The Big Ten sent eight teams to the tournament, sentiment was almost unanimous that the B1G was the strongest conference in the country, and yet only one of those teams is among the final sixteen, one didn't survive a play-in game, and two others lost in the first round, including second seeded Ohio State to 15th seeded Oral Roberts. By contrast, five west coast teams, Gonzaga, USC, UCLA, Oregon State, and Oregon are still standing.
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Just about every "expert" and bracketologist out there had Villanova losing to Winthrop in the first round. You know what happened. While Winthrop kept it close, Villanova was never really in any danger at all of losing that game, despite playing without two of their best players. I honestly believe that if the two teams played ten times, Villanova would win eight or nine times. In the second round, the Wildcats rolled over North Texas, and they remain standing. Sometimes bloodlines and a coach like Jay Wright really do mean a lot. A whole lot. They next face Baylor, and will no doubt be underdogs, but how surprised will you really be if Villanova wins that game?
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Count me among the many who do not care for Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim, but he is some coach. The Orange finished eighth in the ACC this year and here they are in the Round of Sixteen. I heard that this is 25th or 26th time he has taken a team to the Sweet Sixteen. That's amazing. In the second round he went up against a superior WVU team who has a great coach too in Bob Huggins, and Huggy was completely outcoached by Boeheim.
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Is there anything more exciting than seeing a highflying and exciting basketball game being ground to a halt in the last few minutes of a game while the zebras spend countless minutes agonizing over a replay to see whether the ball was last touched by the guy in the white shirt or if it actually grazed off the fingernail or shoelace of the guy in the blue shirt? Or seeing them then spend another two or three minutes deciding whether there is 1.7 or 2.4 seconds remaining on the clock? And then there are the endless time outs and parades to the foul lines.
Talk about buzz kills.
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I note that the trend to baggy and well-below-the knees basketball shorts seems to have gone by the wayside. Current styles are shorter, but not as short as the nut-cutters worn by players in basketball's jurassic era. They are looser than in the old days and stop in mid-thigh, several inches above the knee. A good and a stylish compromise, I believe.
However, I'm not crazy about the leggings that more and more players are wearing. I guess they serve a purpose, but aesthetics isn't one of them.
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The four network coverage of games remains one of the great innovations ever in sports television. I remember being skeptical when this was first introduced by CBS and Turner several years ago, but now I couldn't imagine it any other way. Halftime? Switch to another game. Commercials? Switch to another game. Game you're watching turning into a boring blow-out? Switch to another game.
What could be better?
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Speaking of commercials, the Capital One spots with Chuck, Sam, and Spike, with Jim Nantz as a Plus One, remain the gold standard. The new one this year that shows them all as little kids at their first game should win an award.
I've loved the commercials that note the return of watching this event that was missed last year, and I love the one for Apple AirPods of the hip-hop kid dancing through he neighborhood and joining in with kids jumping rope.
Most other commercials were old and aggravating by midway through the first day, especially that creepy one for Coke Cherry-Vanilla in the convenience store. Eeuew.
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I would also like to call bullshit on those who have speculated that this tournament is somehow tainted or deserving of an asterisk because of either (a) the disjointed nature of the regular season, (b) the uncertainty up to the last minute of who would or would not be able to compete in it, (c) the lack of spectators, or (d, and most ridiculous of all) the fact that neither perennial participants Duke and Kentucky were not included.
If a tournament is held at all, and it is being held, and if you make it through the six round grind and win six games, you are a Deserving Champion. Period. No asterisks required.
Another ridiculous sentiment that some are floating is will Gonzaga, should they win it all and finish 32-0, something that has not been done in 45 years, do they deserve to be included in the same conversation with other undefeated teams - Bill Russell's USF team, Frank McGuire's UNC team, the Wooden/Alcindor/Walton UCLA teams, or Bob Knight's Indiana team? The answer is YES!!!! Gonzaga will have played a schedule that was set out for them, and then survived a 68 team tournament. If they end up beating every team that comes before them, they are, by definition, one of the great teams of all time. You want to argue that Alcindor's Bruins were better, fine, that's what sports are all about, but don't short change their accomplishments.
And yes, I know that that previous paragraph, can be rendered completely moot between now and April 5, but I like the Zags chances to at the very least get through the Regionals and into the Final Four.
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Based upon various nieces and nephews choice of colleges, I made a number of what I call "loyalty bets" this weekend. Lost money on Ohio State (Brian and Francie), North Carolina (Bonny, Michael, and Sofie), St. Bonaventure (Bill), Georgetown (Katie), and went 1-1 on Ohio U (Zach).
Prior to the beginning of the tourney, I made four separate $8 bets at various odds on each of four schools to win the whole enchilada. All four schools remain alive, and here is how the payouts would go for me if any of them win: Gonzaga $24, Baylor $56, Houston $176, and Alabama $184.
So you all know how I'll be cheering this coming weekend.
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Not counting last year, when, of course, there was no tournament, this is the first time in many years that I had not spent at least one of the first two days of March Madness gathered at a local sports bar with groups of friends to watch the games. Of course, such gatherings are fun and you can't put a price on camaraderie, but I have to say that I was able to get more into the games themselves by watching them in the comfort of my home. You can pick what game you want to watch at a given time, the food and drinks are cheaper, and really, when it comes to camaraderie, who better to watch games with than Mrs. Grandstander?
