The Real Madness

It's that time of year again. When Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Winthrop tipped off Tuesday night, we knew that March Madness had officially begun (and with no UNC in sight, this one might even be fun!!). Unfortunately, however, for many of today's "fans" the NCAA Tournament has become about one thing- their bracket.

When the feisty Robert Morris Colonials pushed Villanova to the brink of extinction Thursday afternoon, much of America was on the edge of its seat, yet many people were rooting for the wrong team. I was saddened to hear people worried that a Villanova loss would ruin their bracket. As I heard analysts joke about how President Obama must be sweating with one of his Final Four teams struggling in the first round, I wondered if even the First Fan had lost touch with what makes college basketball so magical.

Are we seriously going to stop rooting for the underdog just because we've got a couple of dollars on the line in an office pool? I put Villanova in the Final Four, but that didn't stop me from rooting like heck for the Colonials. I've got Kentucky winning it all, but when their tip off rolled around Thursday evening, guess who became a die hard East Tennessee State fan?

Now don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with filling out a bracket and trying to prove to your friends that you know the most about the game. It's when we start rooting harder for our bracket than for the upsets we didn't pick that I take issue. When we don't root for a 15 seed because we have the 2 seed they're playing in the final, that is the real madness.

The magic of March lies in the hands of the little guy and the schools we've never heard of. It's about the unexpected, the unpredictable, the fact that it is truly anyone's tournament. In what other sport do teams like Morgan State have just as good a chance at the title as teams like Duke? It's not like college football, where we let a computer decide which two teams are the best. In fact the only criticism surrounding the college basketball playoff system is whether we should allow even more teams into the world's largest dance.

The NCAA tournament is a time to rally around the next Cinderella, not root for her carriage to crash on the way to the ball. So maybe we should just throw away the brackets. I'll be rooting for the underdogs to mess them up anyways.