ChicagoSportsBlogs : Non Compete

March brings many good things to sports fans in Chicago. It is the beginning of spring and the end of that blasted wintry snow-rain mix. The sun is actually still out at 4:30 in the afternoon. The Bulls and Blackhawks seasons come to an anti-climactic finish affording us the chance to focus on the NFL Draft and the greatest tournament of them all. March is a time for madness. Man I love this tournament. I really can't explain why. It's not like I win the office pool or even the family's pool which we do each and every year just for bragging rights.

I went to a school that actually has a D-1 men's basketball team, but they haven't been to the dance since the mid eighties. (Go Ramblers!) So that can't be it. I bet I know what it is.

It's pure. It is the truth. It is what is good and proper and simply right with sports. In an era where we the sports fans have to deal with crybaby pro athletes' complaints over money, steroid use and Congressional investigations, this is the great equalizer. 32 65 teams [UPDATED THANKS TO THE SHAJ316 SMACK DOWN] play in a tournament where if you slip up just a little bit, you're going to get bounced. I turn a blind eye to the sarcasm and cynicism that bemoans college sports as being just as corrupt as the pro world. How can it be as corrupt with a challenge like March Madness. The tournament provides balance in the sports world. It has an unarguable finality at its conclusion. College sports doesn't get it right for football, no argument there, but it ironically corrects that wrong with this perfect basketball bracket. There are no second chances with March Madness. As a fan, you have just latched your sports-cred to a team out of the WAC or Conference USA. That Davidson pick is going to haunt you. Sweet Sixteen? Are you sure? The fun of March Madness is there for everyone to see. You've probably put your money where your mouth is on each one of these games.

That $20 bucks you just kicked into the pot will be the best $20 you spend all month. I guarantee that as much as that 5-12 upset.

-- fin

A few years ago (back in my consulting days) I wrote a little poem that I sent out to all my friends who took part in our March Madness pools. This was back in the early days when we ripped out the bracket from the Tribune or Sun-Times and HAND WROTE our picks. Yea, the time before the Internet. Looking back at it, it sounds a bit cheesy. Anyway, I would email this to them on the morning of the opening tip-off for the tourney. I provide it here for you to enjoy the tradition.

Untitled
Another day, another Journey.  And today's journey is
to reach the top of the mountain.
To be king of the mountain.
Today gentlemen, is a day when you are allowed to be
mad.
Today my friends, begins, March Madness.
Good luck to our favorite warriors, may their
victories be as profitable as ours.
:)
by PerryM
*******************************
Let the upsets begin...

[UPDATE: Thanks to Shaj316 for resurrecting this]