First football, now basketball? Wow, I’m really starting to miss that “ZUMBA” column. Well, I guess basketball’s a little better. I’ve been known to play every now and then. Even at 6 feet, 3 inches, I’m not all that good.
March Madness is a term I’ve heard, but I can honestly say I didn’t know it was referring to basketball. The closest thing to a basketball game I’ve ever watched was the movie Space Jam.
Exaggerations aside, basketball is a very popular sport. Americans enjoy watching this sport, and March Madness is kind of a big deal. March Madness happens with the men’s NCAA (National Collegiate Athletics Association) tournament. Sixty-eight teams will participate, and the tournament is single elimination.
A little history for you…The last winner was the Duke Blue Devils. The team with the most titles under its belt is the UCLA Bruins. Fun fact–bruin is a European bear. Ya, I had to look that up.
The possibilities of two certain teams I pick in my bracket being in the championship are 147,573,952,589,676,412,928 to one. First person who can tell me how to say that number wins a prize. Just kidding. There isn’t a prize, and I don’t want you talking to me. That is a 2×10^67 chance.
Apparently the University of Connecticut men’s basketball has been in hot water recently. The issue is more than $6,000 in improper recruiting inducements, impermissible phone calls and text messages to prospective student athletes, failure to monitor and promote an atmosphere for compliance by the head coach and university and unethical conduct by the former operations director…etc.
Their punishment is a pretty steep including the head coach being suspended for the 2011-2012 season, as well as scholarship reduction for the next three years. They were also given recruitment restrictions.
I find this a little harsh. I mean, to me it’s just a sport. As long as the masses are entertained and no one is dead, what’s the big deal? Everybody cheats; it’s just wrong to get caught.
I’m not the biggest basketball fan and that makes me biased to a point. I don’t plan on watching March Madness. If you like basketball, you’re probably going to watch it. If you don’t, I imagine that you stopped reading this column several paragraphs ago.
Wait a minute…I have just heard that these people going “mad” in March over the brackets are also (gasp) making money in contests and office pools. I might enter ESPN’s contest at that…after all, I have a 147,573,952,589,676,412,928 to one shot at it.
