Let the Madness Begin

The most exciting week in sports is about to kickoff. I’m not talking about the Indianapolis 500, the Super Bowl, or even the World Cup. Nope, March Madness surpasses just about any event you can think of in terms of daily excitement and fan involvement. With that in mind…here are five random thoughts:

1) SOS may mean strength of schedule, but to some it clearly meant save (or slash) our season to teams on the tournament bubble.

Teams are rewarded not only for their conference records, but also for scheduling tough non-conference foes. Teams don’t need to win all such matchups, but they need to schedule several and win at least a few. Let’s take one of the last teams that made the field of 65 in Florida, as well as one of the first teams to be left out of the tournament in Virginia Tech.

Both teams play in power conferences and have had tournament success in recent years.

Florida was 20-11, including a 9-7 conference mark. In terms of non-conference quality wins, the Gators had 2 impressive resume builders in victories over Michigan State and Florida State. Both the Seminoles and the Spartans are tournament teams.

Virginia Tech had a similar record of 23-10, going 10-6 in an admittedly weak ACC. The Hokies non-conference schedule was laughable, and included games against the likes of Delaware, Charleston Southern, & UMBC. The fact that Virginia Tech didn’t beat a single team from the RPI top 30 (Minnesota, the last team in the tourney beat 3) didn’t help their cause.


2) Only one of the four number one seeds will make it to Indianapolis.

Although all four #1 seeds have only made the Final Four twice (1979 & 2008), most tournaments have ended with multiple top seeds in the last weekend showcase.

This year’s number one seeds, however, are deceptively weak. Syracuse is missing arguably its best player in the paint in Arinze Onuaku. Kentucky, although impressive is easily one of the youngest teams in the tournament. Coach Cal is counting on two freshmen to play like seniors in John Wall & Demarcus Cousins. Duke is a very good team, but not a great one, and is often manhandled by stronger, more physically mature teams (see Georgetown).


3) Upsets aren’t what they used to be.

Sure, if a #16 seed somehow were to shock a top seed, that would qualify as an upset. The days of a Chaminade taking down the likes of an ACC goliath are over.

Let’s take UTEP as an example. UTEP is an eleven seed, but according to several analysts, they have as many as 3 NBA caliber players on the roster. Murray State, a mid-major team that’s in the dance as a #13 seed, won 30 games this year. The low seeds aren’t Cinderellas; these are bona fide D-I Apollos. If you want proof, just look at what Butler has become over the past decade.

4) The time to expand may not be now, but it’s coming and there’s nothing you can do about it.

The NCAA tournament is a cash cow. Whereas most collegiate sports lose money, basketball makes money on the Division I level in large part due to the television contract with CBS. When the tournament is expanded (not if), it won’t be to let teams in that have a legitimate shot at the title; it will be for the money. The only way to add monetary value to the sport is to add more televised games.

5) Tiger’s return to golf at the Masters will be the most watched event not named the Super Bowl this year.

I couldn’t resist. He’ll most likely struggle to make the cut, but that won’t stop millions from hanging on his every shot.

Big Ben Becoming a Big Joke

Ben Roethlisberger is innocent until proven guilty. He has as much right to go out and have a good time as anyone else. The fact that he’s a highly-successful NFL quarterback doesn’t change that.

What that should change, however, is Roethlisberger’s decision making process. In the past year, Big Ben has already had one sexual misconduct charge thrown his way. A Lake Tahoe waitress has claimed that Roethlisberger raped her in 2008. Although the criminal case has been dismissed due to lack of evidence, the civil case is still on the docket.

The idea that an athlete that already has had legal issues and is a very similar situation is hardly newsworthy, unless the athlete involved a two-time Super Bowl champion in charge of leading one of America’s most recognizable sports franchises.

From all accounts, Big Ben is a likeable guy, but at some point, he needs to grow up. He may only be 28 years old, but Roethlisberger has little in common with his contemporaries. Ben has too much to lose and not very much to gain by going out to nightspots frequented by coeds nearly 10 years his junior. By continuing along with this immature pattern of behavior, Roethlisberger has embarrassed himself, his team, his city, and the NFL.

There is unlikely to be any sort of resolution in Roethlisberger’s case for weeks if not months. In the grand scheme, the only fact that matters is if Big Ben is charged with a crime, and if so, whether he is proven to be innocent or guilty. When all the dust settles, Roethlisberger may only be guilty of a bad decision that put him in the wrong place at the wrong time, but the damage to his image has been done.

Triumphs and mistakes on the field of play are often forgotten over time, but off the field problems can rain over an athlete’s career, and the public outcry is something from which they never escape.

Ben Roethlisberger’s small cloud might have just grown into a permanent hurricane.

Ready for The Next Step?

Whoever said there’s no such thing as a moral victory has never been an underdog.

The United States hockey team may have lost Sunday’s gold medal tilt against our neighbors to the north, but they have no reason to be ashamed of themselves.

Taking the behemoth that is Canada to the limit is a good reason not to be ashamed, but elevating hockey to the “it” topic of the weekend is an even better one. The gold medal matchup was absolutely exhilarating.

The US overcame an early 2-0 deficit with a game-tying goal by Parese in the game’s final thirty seconds. Although Sidney Crosby dashed the Yankee dream with a quick wrist shot around the halfway point in overtime, the majority of Americans couldn’t have been too upset.

Crosby had done nothing except lived up to his hype as the new great one. "Sid the Kid" had 27.5 million viewers in the United States alone watching as he did it. That rating is second all-time among hockey viewership to the 1980 gold medal game, when a miraculous US squad defeated Finland after shocking the Russian team at Lake Placid.

Hockey will probably always be a fringe sport in this country. It’s stuck below the three ball sports that dominate American sports culture. Ryan Miller, Zack Parese, and the rest of the Yanks were able to capture America’s sporting mind if only for an afternoon.

The sport of hockey is a beautiful one, and like many other Olympic sports, deserves attention more often than once every four years. In order for hockey to get to the next level in the US, it needs American stars in a constant showcase.

Yankee hockey may never reach the heights of Canadian genius led by artisans named Gretsky, Lemieux, and Crosby. But who says it needs to?

All that American hockey needs is for its players to bring the competiveness, never say die attitude, and the constant commitment to team that was shown during the 2010 games. If all those three things come to fruition, how can you not root for hockey to succeed in this country?