There are 8760 hours in a year. As we approach the most important 24 of those precious hours (obviously referring to the college basketball marathon that will begin in about one day from right now) I feel it necessary to make the world aware of why NCAA basketball is, in fact, the best sport in the world. Not just at the college level, but any sport at any level. Now some may question this and try to insert their "sport of choice" and claim superiority. Well, as the title of this blog clearly states, you're probably wrong...and here are 3 reasons why.
1. The most efficient post season - The NCAA men's basketball tournament every March makes me happier than a frat guy on freshmen move in day. Now it's easy to say that my opinion doesn't reflect the rest of the sports world, and that's fine...I'll humor the naysayers because as I said, the tournament is the most EFFICIENT way to hold a post season. In the past, it gave 64 teams an equal opportunity to earn a national championship. There are no computers, no politics, and no gimmicks. Teams that win their respective conferences earn their spot in the field along with a select number of above average teams with above average records. Again, people can argue that the selection process isn't fair and that great teams don't end up making the tournament because of flukes in the system. That's a legitimate argument. So what does college basketball do in response to these issues? THEY EXPAND THE TOURNAMENT! What a revelation it is when an established structure is adapted to acknowledge the concerns of its followers and it actually fixes the problems! Imagine what it would be like if NCAA football would throw aside the ridiculous amount of pride they have in their incredibly flawed BCS system and fix their issues. Na, that's stupid...why make the fans (i.e. the source of revenue) happy? Apparently that just doesn't make sense.
2. A lack of "under the table" exchanges - With all of the controversy that has swarmed around NCAA football in the last couple years, it's good to see a similar program thriving without it's superstars deliberately breaking the rules and accepting insane amounts of cash to be a student athlete. Everyone has heard the stories - Reggie Bush turns his Heisman award over after the world becomes aware that he and his family accepted over $300,000 in benefits from agents while Bush played at USC. Auburn quarterback and Heisman candidate Cam Newton's dad (with the help of middle-man and washed up country star Kenny Rogers...lame joke...same name though!) goes at his his son's recruiting process with the mentality of a pimp trying to market one of his ladies of the night (specifically to the tune of $180,000 which was actually a good deal! he started at $200,000 but if Cam liked the coach, they got the coupon). These are the stories from the last 6 months, but in NCAA football the story stays the same every year; just the names change. Now I ask, when is the last time you've heard similar stories from NCAA basketball? I can answer that for you...YOU HAVEN'T!...The worst basketball infraction in 2010 was at Iowa when two recruits got the opportunity to meet Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore at a football game. Are you kidding me? You got to meet the guy from "Dude...Where's my Car" and his senior citizen wife (*a hot senior citizen) and THAT violates the rules set forth by the oh so prestigious NCAA (the answer is no - the violations were dropped in the end). But my point is that the rules infractions that take place in football are far more extreme than those that we see in God's gift to the world - NCAA basketball.
3. 24 hours of college basketball!!!!! - Are you kidding me?! Does it get any better? For die-hard fans like myself a full day of college basketball is both the best and worst possible situation. It is the best because I will literally not move from my couch, watch every single game, drink beer, and probably not eat until the final horn because that would more than likely involve getting off the couch (and no, getting beer does not...having a mini-fridge in the living room is fantastic.) It is the worst situation for the exact same reasons but add the facts that I am a full time student and have what ends up to be equivalent to a full time job. But that's neither here nor there. The point is that NCAA basketball is providing it's viewers with an overflow of exactly what they want - and not just with a bunch of no name schools. The always competitive Ohio State University will take on the Florida Gators, and mid-major phenom Butler will be battling Louisville, just to name a few of the quality matchups that will be shown. (for a full list click this link).
I think I've made my point. For these 24 hours...these glorious 24 hours of college basketball...nothing else will matter to me, nor should it to you. Because it doesn't get much better than this!
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