Monday, March 20, 2006

Overrated?

CBS paid the NCAA $6 billion to broadcast the NCAA Tournament through the year 2014. 58 million Americans have entered their picks into a pool. Some experts estimate that the U.S. economy will lose $3.8 billion due to productivity loss this March.



But you know what? Peole are blowing all that money over nothing. March Madness, my ass. I'll give it to you straight: the tourney is pretty overrated.



That being said, anyone who agrees with the above statement probably thinks that the Rorschach image at right is a sign of the Flying Spaghetti Monster's supremacy over Earth. Such crazy people should not be trusted with anything -- not even the hiring of Missouri's new basketball coach.



But at least one person in all of America thinks that the NCAA Tournament is a terrible way to choose the national champion of college basketball. Perhaps there are more of you out there. Maybe even three or four. It's a scary thought. Anyway, I was reading Michael Wilbon's live chat on The Post's website today, and here's what one poster said:





So leave it up to the Voice of Reason, Michael Wilbon, to rectify the situation. The real argument is this: if the above poster can find a way to fairly select the best of the 334 teams in Division I college basketball AND make it just as unpredictably crazy as the current setup AND keep the scholar athletes who play basketball for our amusement from failing out of school, then let's go for it.



Meanwhile, I'll be sitting here, screaming my way through another two weeks of incredible college basketball while State College crunches the numbers. Have fun, boys. You're not going to find a better way.

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