Thursday, March 15, 2007

Now THIS Is What I Call Madness!

Sitting in a bar, beer at my side, doing work, watching hoops. These are the days.

Stanford is getting the everlovin' crap kicked out of them by Louisville, and folks in Syracuse and Manhattan (KS) are doubtless going apeshit. Fans of Florida A&M are also justifiably pissed, since they won their conference tournament and then found out they had to win ANOTHER game to actually make the Dance. Which, of course, they lost to Niagra.

Here's what the NCAA should do--have four play-in games among the eight teams in the running for the final at-large bids. Teams like Syracuse, Arkansas, Illinois, Stanford, Drexel...have them play at various neutral sites on Tuesday night, make it a mini-Madness. Big schools, big fan bases, big stakes. The winners get 12 seeds. The losers shut the hell up about getting screwed by the committee.

And I'd add even MORE Madness to the mix. You pick seven teams for the play in game...and then you have a BIG LOTTERY on Selection Sunday for the final spot! You get this big, BIG drum, and fill it with Ping-Pong balls with the name of every team not in the tournament or the play-in games. You spin that drum, you friggin' spin it, and you pick out one team that gets a final, miraculous shot to make the tournament. You could have Dick Vitale pull out the winning ball and scream, "IT'S TEXAS CHRISTIAN, BABY!!! OHHH, OHHH, OHHH!! AWESOME BABY, THE HORNED FROGS ARE IN!! OHHHH, OHHHH, OHHHH!!"

OK, I gotta get back to my drinking now. Let's go Pitt!

posted by Gene @ 2:03 PM   |