I Love March Madness

There's a lot to love about March. The seasons change, with Spring bringing warm weather throughout the country. Various cities celebrate St. Patrick's Day with a parade.

But easily the best thing about the month is March Madness.

Aside from the 'Cuse jersey, this girl has nothing to do
with college basketball. But do you really care?

In December, I had alot of problems with college football and dedicated an entire blogpost to it. College basketball, and specifically March Madness, is much different. I love just about everything about it.

So lets dissect just exactly what makes March Madness so great.

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It Brings Out the Degenerate Gambler in us All
As a diehard basketball fan, I'd love watching the game no matter what. But what draws the casual fan to college basketball isn't the memorable shots, passionate players or frenetic gameplay.

It's participating in brackets.

And lots of brackets. Typically I try to get into three or four and I'm sure there are many others out there that participate in even more. The Office Pool has become an annual tradition. There's nothing better than diligently spending hours filling out various brackets in hopes of winning and cashing in on a big score. It's mostly luck, but when one of our upsets pan out, we're the first ones to brag about it. We agonize over which darkhorse will go deep in the tournament and whine when our Final Four team gets knocked out in the second round. There's no other sport that causes so much exciting discussion between casual acquaintances. Which brings us to another great thing about March Madness...


Yeah Boss, I'll get to that Project in a Second. Let me Just Check How Morehead State's Doing....
March Madness creates an utter lack of productivity in offices nationwide. When we're not scrolling ESPN, Yahoo, CBS Sportsline and every other basketball site for sleepers and upset picks, we're discussing with co-workers which team we think can make a run. We fill out brackets and edit them when we're supposed to be working. While the games are going on, we're constantly checking scores, getting updates and occasionally streaming live games. If your office is lucky (or stupid) enough to show games on the office TV, overall work goes down even more.

When national publications go so far as to write articles about the lack of production, you can tell that March Madness has quite the negative effect in the workplace.


So What You Sucked During the Season? You Still Got a Shot.

Unlike college football, where once you lose a game you're usually officially out of the National Championship race, in college basketball, every team gets a shot at redemption via the end-of-year conference tournament. This gives every team a chance to make the Dance, regardless of how they played all year. Just look at Georgia last year. The "Dream Dawgs" won just 13 games last season, but went on a miracle run in the SEC tournament, won the tournament title and earned an invite to the NCAA tournament. This proves that no matter how poor your team did during the regular season, they're not dead until they lose in the conference tourney.

Conference tournaments have also provided some of the all-time great college basketball moments. I can still remember Syracuse's memorable run through the Big East Tournament in 2006. Gerry McNamara lit Madison Square Garden on fire and cemented his legacy, by making winner after game-winner and dragging an underachieving 'Cuse team to the Dance....

(McNamara's highlights are at the 1:33 mark)

How 'bout Them Nittany Lions?
If you're not a Penn State fan, I advise you to just skip this one and move on. You're not going to like it. You'll think I'm a homer (I am), and question my journalistic integrity for writing about a team with no basketball history, that hasn't made the tournament since 2001 and has only made the Dance three times since 1965. I implore you non-Penn State fan... don't read this.

OK, now that that's out of the way... have you seen Penn State basketball this year? In case you haven't, let me summarize. The team has won 21 games and 10 in the Big Ten. They hold wins over the top three teams in the league - Michigan State, Illinois and Purdue. They beat the Spartans on the road and swept Illinois this year.

Unfortunately, their out of conference schedule is downright embarrasing. It's being predicted that the Lions will need one or two wins in the Big Ten tournament to get an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

Truth be told, I've been a North Carolina fan since I was a kid, but I've loosely cared about the Nittany Lion basketball program since I enrolled to Happy Valley. My freshman year I went to the first game of the season. We were playing Georgetown and I had near-courtside seats (they were extremely easy to get good seats back then). We were up a point with 2.1 seconds to go and it looked like we would pull off an unbelievable upset. The Hoyas inbounded the ball and one of the Penn State players tried to intercept it. He ended up fouling a Georgetown player, who went to the line, sank two free throws and gave the Hoyas a one-point win. Needless to say, I never went to a Penn State game again.

Let's just say it's nice to finally be able to root for Penn State in basketball.

This is Talor Battle. Sophomore point guard, First-team All Big Ten Selection
and responsible for making Penn State basketball semi-relevant this year

Selection Sunday
With all the excitement that comes from following conference tournaments, bubble teams and top teams jockeying for tournament seeds, Selection Sunday is the culmination of it all. For true hoop heads (and those that want to get an early jump on their brackets), this night is when we get first looks at the bracket and immediately start picking potential upset teams and argue over which bracket is the hardest and easiest. Is it sad that I look forward to watching a bunch of old guys reveal which teams go on each bracket line?

Nah, didn't think so.


The Concept of Basketball All Day is Quite Appealing to me
One of the best things about March Madness is that the games leading up to the Final Four are played all day. The first two rounds feature games from Thursday-Sunday, with tons of action to keep fans of every team interested. On Thursday and Friday, most fans will have to work, but that doesn't mean they won't be glued to their computer screens checking for updates (unless you were cagey enough to get off that day. It's a tough sell these days with bosses wising up, but I encourage you to still try).

What's great are the Saturday and Sunday games. Sounds like another excuse to get hammered to me! Camp out at a bar and drown your sorrows after the No. 12 seed you had making a run to the Elite Eight gets hammered by 20 in the first round. And you can take solace in the fact that if the game you're watching doesn't go how you hoped, there are about four more coming on in a half-hour. Anything that allows you to binge drink for hours while watching athletic competition is a winner in my book.

This man was very pleased with Western Kentucky's
run to the Sweet Sixteen last year

Cindarella Slippers. That is if Cindarella Had a Size 16 Shoe.
Everyone loves an underdog, and March Madness is infamous for producing some of the best Cinderella stories every year. We see double-digit seeds upset powerhouses, tiny schools in the middle of nowhere making runs to the Elite Eight and players that most people haven't heard of it become national celebrities.

One of the best examples of this was George Mason's run in 2006. Coming into the tournament as an 11-seed, the Patriots used an experienced team made up of mostly hometown kids to topple heavyweights like my Tarheels and tournament-favorite UConn, making it all the way to the Final Four.

Another, more historic example is the 1985 Villanova team. Ranked eighth, the Wildcats made it all the way to the Championship, and toppled the heavily-favored, Patrick Ewing-led and reigning champion Georgetown Hoyas for one of the greatest tournament performances ever.

And who could forget last year's Davidson team, featuring Stephen Curry? Davidson probably won't make the tournament this year (and they shouldn't), but last year the 10th-seeded Wildcats made a run to the Elite Eight before falling by a basket to eventual-champion Kansas. During the tournament, Stephen Curry was electric. He made big shots look effortless, endeared himself to the nation and made the name Stephen (also spelled Stefen) the most popular name for newborn baby boys in the year 2009 (alright, I have no proof of that last fact. But in 15 years, when you see every boy athlete named Stefen, remember I gave you the heads up).

Which team and player will take the nation by storm this year? It's hard to say, but you can bet that it'll be fun trying to figure it out.

And since we probably won't see Curry in this year's tournament, let's finish this with a look at some of his greatest highlights....

Gripes With College Football

There's a lot to love about college football. There's the excitement and emotion. There's the enormous stadiums, electric clouds and getting to watch kids who'll soon be playing on Sundays.

Did I mention the hot college girls?

But every year, there are things about college football that are so utterly stupid that it makes your head hurt. It's bad enough having the enjoyment of my Saturdays dictated by whether Penn State wins or loses. Add in the fact that the people that control college football care so much more about money than anything else, that it really hurts the game.

So with the season almost complete, and the inevitable BCS clusterfuck soon upon us, lets take a look at some of the things I hate about college football.


The BCS Continues to Ruin Our Sporting Lives
We might as well start with the hot topic in college football right now; Oklahoma playing in the Big 12 title game, giving themselves the in-road to the National Championship game. There are three one-loss teams in the Big 12: Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech. The Sooners destroyed Texas Tech at home, Texas Tech beat Texas on a last-second touchdown at home and Texas beat Oklahoma by 10 on a netural field.

Since the Red Raiders were embarrased in every sense of the word by the Sooners, they've pretty much eliminated themselves from the discussion. The argument for Oklahoma? They've been the second half's most explosive team and destroyed Texas Tech and Oklahoma State in consecutive weeks. Texas lost to Texas Tech and only beat the Cowboys by four points.

Quite frankly, that argument's garbage.

Texas beat Oklahoma on a neutral field. That's it; end of argument. Since there's no playoff in place, head-to-head matchups have to count more than anything. A last-second defeat in Lubbock, in what was the final game of a brutal four-game stretch for the Longhorns will probably cost them a chance at the title, while Oklahoma gets to leap-frog a team they lost to.

So yeah, the BCS kinda sucks.

(And one more thing. Why in God's name is the BCS ranking even one of the tiebreakers? How did such a terrible idea ever get accepted? I feel like if there was a meeting of Big 12 officials, and they were trying to figure out all the tiebreakers and someone said, "Hey, if it gets to the fifth tiebreaker, why don't we just let the BCS figure out?" than that person would immediately be booed, shunned and ridiculed to the point where he would have to leave the room in shame. But that's just me....)


Feel Free To Soil Yourself, It's Only Your Biggest Game of the Year
Before Saturday, there was a very realistic possibility that Penn State would have to play Oregon State in the Rose Bowl. The Beavers only had one loss in the Pac-10, and after beating USC, owned the tiebreak. They just had to win their final game - an intense rivalry game against Oregon at home - to earn a trip to Pasadena. Since Penn State played and beat Oregon State convincingly earlier this season, the scenario of playing them again sucked. I was legitimately terrified but my roommate thought that the Beavers would lose. The rationale? Every team seems to find a way to lose their biggest game of the year.

And the Beavers delivered. Big. They lost 65-38.

Every time a team controls its own destiny with an opportunity to achieve great things, they find ways to crap the bed. When Penn State was in position to get to the National Championship, they lost 24-23 at Iowa. When Texas Tech had their chance, they forget to show up against Oklahoma. Texas couldn't hold on in Lubbock. Two weeks ago Maryland could've gotten to the ACC championship by winning out, then emphatically lost to Florida State at home. Even dating back to last year, West Virginia just needed a win over a lowly Pittsburgh team at home to get to the title game, and still lost.

And after Saturday, you can probably add #1 Alabama to that list.

Enjoy it while you can 'Bama. You're day of reckoning comes Saturday.

Good Ole' Boys Run College Football
Sylvester Croom, the first black head football coach in the SEC, resigned from Mississippi State over the weekend. Mississippi State is 4-8 and just lost to rival Mississippi 45-0. It was probably time for Croom to go.

But with Croom stepping down, there are currently three black head coaches out of a possible 119 in Division 1-A football. That's ridiculous.

Fifty-four percent of student athletes and 33% of college football assistants are minorities. Of that 33%, only 13% are African-American offensive and defensive coordinators, so it's clear that there's not a terribly large pool of candidates to choose from.

But it's hard to believe that there aren't more than three qualified black coaches to lead college football teams. Part of the problem may be that alot of a school's rich, (white) alumni, that cut big checks to their alma mater's athletic programs, aren't as receptive to hiring a black coach as the school's athletic department is. Some argue that college football should institute the equivalent of NFL's "Rooney Rule," which would make it a mandatory requirement for teams to interview at least one minority candidate for every head coaching position.

That seems like a drastic change, but three out of 119? It might not be such a bad idea.


The Media's Love For Scoring and Disdain for Rational Thinking
I'm not going to argue that the Big Ten's a good conference this year. It's probably the third best conference in college football; well behind the Big 12 (the best conference in football) and the SEC (although this one's closer than you may think).

But the way the media fellates the Big 12 because of their explosive offense, yet discredits Big Ten wins because the scores aren't in the 50's is absurd. Have you ever watched a Big 12 game? They don't play defense. They don't try to play defense. They could care less if the other team scores, as long as they do it quickly so their offense can get back on the field. They don't even bother kicking field goals, because teams know that you'll need touchdowns to win.

Hey, I love points too. It's awesome seeing Michael Crabtree burn a hapless defender down the sideline for a long touchdown. Watching shootouts are exciting.

But just because a team wins 45-40 doesn't mean it's far superior to a team that wins 17-10. Put one of those fast Texas teams in 25 degree weather and snow (a common temperature for a November Big Ten game) against a real defense and it's a lot harder to break 40.

Which brings me to my next gripe....


I Don't Know if You Noticed, But the SEC Kinda Sucks
We have the media and some fans trumpeting how the SEC has so much speed. They get quick Southern burners that can fly all over the field.

The SEC has two elite teams and not much else. Traditional powers like Auburn, LSU and Tennessee are terrible. Georgia has collapsed in every big game they've played this year (including an indefensible loss to an ACC team in Georgia Tech last week). It's so bad that Ole Miss is friggin ranked right now.

I believe Florida's the best team in the country. I think Alabama is a bit overrated. Their best wins are over Clemson (sucks), Georgia (talked about them) and LSU (not what they used to be), but I give them credit for winning all the games they were supposed to. Both those teams are worthy National Championship participants.

But the rest of the Conference is a disgrace. If anyone tells you otherwise, you have permission to punch them in the face. (Just tell the person you hit that I told you you could do it. I'm sure they'll understand).

What Happens When You Match Senility with Arrogant Smugness? ESPN's College Football Show!

Can we all just agree that Lou Holtz and Mark May are the worst sports analysts out there right now? Every weekend ESPN feels the need to shove these two down our throats, in what can only be a weekly test of our sanity. May is the most arrogant D-bag on television and Holtz is like the old, ornery relative that spews angry nonsense at family gatherings that everyone tries to ignore. And someone actually thought that putting these two together was a GOOD idea?

Well, at least with them, you can count on the occasional confusing, uneducated, angry rant...

Playoffs?!?!? You Kiddin' Me?!?!?
There has been so much said, discussed and debated about this subject, that it's not even worth devoting a ton of space to talking about it. Simply put, there needs to be a playoff. College football is in no rush to change the current system and could care less if we don't like it. End of story.

But if our President-elect can use valuable airtime to pine for a playoff, than NCAA officials can take time away from counting and stacking their money and find a way to make it happen. Just sayin'.

I'll see you in Hell Bowl Championship Series

All Photos Courtesy of Google Images

Appreciation for D-Will

It's been nearly four years since Derrick Williams promised to take Penn State back to the top of college football's mountaintop.

It was Dec. 22, 2004. Penn State was coming off a disastrous and unprecedented two seasons, where it only managed to finish 7-16. In the previous five seasons, the Nittany Lions had four losing seasons.

Somehow, someway, Joe Paterno (and to a larger extent, defensive line coach Larry Johnson) persuaded the nation's top recruit in the country to join a fading dynasty, led by an over-the-hill coach.

D-Will wanted to come to Penn State because he wanted to win the Lions another National Championship. He wanted to be the explosive receiver that keeps college defensive coaches up at night. He wanted to be the guy that would restore the fallen legacy back to where it belonged. He wanted to show that he was the player to make Penn State matter again.

I still remember the jubilation in Happy Valley when we learned he was coming. He was athletic. He was talented. He was cocky.

He was exactly what Penn State needed.

I remember this because on Saturday, Penn State will play Michigan State in the 2008 regular season finale, and the final regular season game of D-Will's career. It'll be the last time he plays at Beaver Stadium, and the second-to-last game he'll ever play in a Lions uniform.

When I look at D-Will, I can't help but feel a little bad for him. Sure, his career stats are respectable, but he never became the superstar player that we all hoped and expected he would be.

And I don't blame that on him at all. He showed flashes of greatness his freshman season, scoring four touchdowns in just seven games, before a broken arm against Michigan robbed him of the rest of the season. During that first season, he had six plays of 20 yards or more, and flashed the speed, elusiveness and overall swagger that you would expect from a rising superstar.

That year he helped get Penn State to the Orange Bowl, and had Penn State not lost on a last-second touchdown against Michigan, the Lions may have played in the National Championship, just like he expected when he came.

Unfortunately, he never seemed to parlay that freshman season into stardom. One major reason why was that his quarterback, the now-infamous Anthony Morelli, couldn't get him the ball. It didn't help that the coaching staff seemed to never figure out how to correctly use him. And when the other team knows that there's only one big-play guy on the field, it's not too difficult to game plan for him and force the others to hurt you.

This season we got to see more of the D-Will we expected. He probably still won't be mentioned as one of the best receivers in college football, but he has shown that he can beat you receiving, rushing and on kick returns.

Most importantly, he's always been a class-act and a leader.

And that's what I think I'll remember about D-Will the most. Who knows how great he could've been if he went to Texas or Florida, where the coaching staff might have utilized his speed and athleticism the way it was intended? He could've easily went to those schools, but he wanted to come to Penn State and put the school back on top.

He never got us to a National Championship, but a win on Saturday puts us in the Rose Bowl. I think two BCS bowls in his four-year career will do just fine.

So D-Will, enjoy your final game in Happy Valley. And when you look back on your career, know that there's an entire nation of Nittany Lion fans that thank you for choosing our school.

You certainly didn't have to. But you did, and for that we'll forever be grateful.

Photo Courtesy of Google Images.

Below is my favorite D-Will highlight, his first career TD, that got us a come-from-behind victory over Northwestern. The play's at the 2:54 mark