Blue 2 vs. Jonathan - A real dogfight

How does your bracket look?  Yeah, mine is busted too.  I didn't have a single Final Four team and my National Champion lost in the Elite Eight.  Oh well - I am happy for Butler and UConn though.  Those kids played their hearts out over the last three weeks and deserved the trip to Houston for college basketball's biggest party.  I'm especially happy for Butler.  They've proved that even the little guy can succeed if the playing field is level.  As you might imagine, there are others who do not share my enthusiasm.  Talk radio has been buzzing with hosts and callers who will not respect the legitimacy of a Butler or UConn championship.

Shame on them and shame on you if you feel that way.  Some have suggested the current format for the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship does not reward the best team.  They say it rewards the best team in the tournament.  Here we go again.  Time for the non-barbers to start splitting hairs.  The current tournament format rewards the best team in the tournament as National Champion.  Tournament winners are deemed national champions because they have to defeat the best teams in the nation to win the tournament.  You also have to win all of your games.  The tournament winner is the only undefeated team in the tournament.  It's not a series where you can drop a game or two. 

Funny how this argument doesn't come up when a lower seed wins the Super Bowl.  Green Bay won the title as a #6 seed.  No one has questioned whether or not the Packers are the best team in football - and they shouldn't.  They won the tournament.  UConn has won 10 games in a row dating back to the Big East Tournament; including victories over #2 San Diego State, #5 Arizona, and #4 Kentucky.  Let's not forget Butler; who had to go through #1 Pitt, #2 Florida, #4 Wisconsin, #9 Old Dominion, and an upstart VCU squad to make it.

There are no computers and no polls.  It doesn't matter what the schools' enrollments are.  The NCAA Tournament represents sports in its purest form - my five guys against your five guys and let's see what happens.  Good luck tonight to the Huskies and Bulldogs.  May the best team win.  Until next time...

Be a Good Sport!

-Sol