March Madness Madness

My mother-in-law is crazy for high school basketball these days. I don't understand it, but then again I don't have to. I just accept that she's retired, living in a trailer, and therefore following the local bball teams is one of the ways she fills her time.

But she's also totally into the NCAA tournament each year. I never used to have any interest in it - I barely even follow the NBA these days, compared to the heyday of the 70s when the Celtics ruled! - but in the last few years both Vicki and I have found the Road to the Final Four almost impossible to stay off of! We'll come home from work, turn on the TV and start watching some game between a # 4 team and a # 12 team, possibly both of whom we know nothing about, and be completely sucked into the drama. I have a few theories as to why we like it so much, despite having no interest in college hoops any other time of the year:

1) It's an easy playoff system to understand: 4 brackets, each ranked 1 through 16, with the first round being 1 vs 16, 2 vs 15, etc. The winner of this match plays the winner of that match (within the bracket, until you get to the Final Four).

2) Because it's single loss elimination format, every game counts! The team that wins it all is the one that manages to go through the entire tourny without losing. That's six wins in a row, against the best teams in the country, on a national stage.. not exactly a chopped liver achievement! And certainly there's not much room for error, so the players tend to leave it all out there on the floor.

3) With every team's ranking prominently displayed - it's usually as visible as the team name itself! - you can't help but root for the underdog in most cases. And when a lower ranked team is threatening to upset some top-seeded contender, how can you not be drawn right in and start trying to will that ball into the hoop when the 3-pointer attempt flies up from such hopelessly hopeful fingers?

Anyway, I thought of this today because Vicki was on the phone to her mom and talk inevitably turned to the tournament. And why not? It's March, after all!!