Well, it all begins again this week. March Madness, the NCAA Men's basketball tournament, starts with the so-called 'First Four', a round of play-in games whereby the field is expanded to 68 rather than 64 teams. And all in the name of, well, what?
Okay, so Michigan and Michigan State have made the grid, so at least there's a certain amount of good sports news for our local heroes. But beyond that, what are we actually seeing demonstrated by this roundball excess? What's it all about?
In a word, cash.
Do the First Four, or more precisely, first eight teams really have a chance at winning the whole tourney? Of course not. We will not see the University of North Carolina at Asheville even in the final 16 teams, let alone the Final Four. Yet they anxiously grab at the opportunity to somehow be associated with the tournament. Why do they want to be such patsies? Don't they know they're being, ahem, played?
Oh, right, the cash. They get a little money and and little prestige through being associated with the madness.
This isn't about sports excellence. This isn't about who ought to actually play for the championship; does anyone really believe that there are 68 teams who deserve to play for it? Please. This isn't even about the game itself. It's about the money.
When you give that one moment's serious thought, it's really rather sad.
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