Dispatches from the Creation Wars

March Madness, Baby!

Posted by Ed Brayton on March 27, 2004
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This is my favorite time of the year. The beginning of springtime, with the temperatures going up and the birds chirping and the longer days, coincides with the one sporting event I really go crazy for – the NCAA basketball tournament. I’m a huge college basketball fan, one of those people who knows the names of the top players in the current high school sophomore class and who is recruiting them.

My favorite team is the Duke Blue Devils, which I know is cliche` (they’re like the New York Yankees of college basketball), but I’m anything but a bandwagon fan. I became a Duke fan in my early high school days when I saw the legendary Al Maguire do a report on the Cameron Crazies, Duke’s fanatically devoted student fans who have a long history of disrupting opposing teams who play Duke at home. I began following them at the time, before they really started winning, just because I thought that was exactly what college sports should be about.

But even more than being a Duke fan, I’m a college basketball fan in general. Duke is in the elite 8 right now, down to the last 8 teams in the hunt for a national championship. Tomorrow they play for a shot at the 10th final four since Coach K got there 23 years ago. But even if they lose, I’ll be glued to the final four next weekend. You just can’t top this event. It’s the best thing in sports.

Of course, there are a few of those dreaded North Carolina Tar Heel fans in the blogosphere, like Kyle Still. But Kyle is a very bright guy who has recently finished his thesis on the 9th amendment and the right to privacy, so I overlook that one stunning failure of his character and promote his site anyway. :)

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Comments

  1. #1 flatlander100
    March 27, 2004

    Ten young men with gladular problems running up and down in public in their skivies bouncing balls playing a game in which the first fifty points each side scores don’t count. The attraction escapes me.

  2. #2 Ed Brayton
    March 27, 2004

    You old history professors are such sticks in the mud. LOL

  3. #3 Paige
    March 27, 2004

    People look at me funny when I say I prefer to watch the women’s NCAA tournament and that I hardly pay attention to the men’s tournament. So go ahead and look at me funny.

    I spent 12 years refereeing girls basketball at the high school level, some of those girls went on to NCAA Div I colleges. Some of the refs I worked with also were Div I referees. And so I have a natural affinity for the girls/women’s game. And now that my daughter’s school’s girls basketball team has made quite a post-season run, I find I am still following girls basketball.

    I watch an occasional men’s game, and when you compare the two tournaments, I find that the only thing the women are missing is slam dunks. Other than that, they have everything the men’s tournament has: upsets, personalities (okay, no Dickie V either), drama, incredible talent and intense ballgames.

    Give the women’s tournament a try Monday and Tuesday night.

  4. #4 Lynn
    March 27, 2004

    OHhhhhh no Paige, Don’t even suggest it, shhhhhhhhh. If Ed starts watching the women’s tournaments his March Madness would last all year long!

  5. #5 eon
    March 27, 2004

    Your Dookies may win ballgames, but they can’t beat my Bonnies for sportsmanship and integrity!

  6. #6 John Casey
    March 28, 2004

    I look for the Connecticut team*s* to go 12 and 0 in the NCAA tournament*s*. It is slightly disconcerting to realize that this record is possible for Duke, in the alternative.

  7. #7 Paige
    March 29, 2004

    No, Lynn, the women’s tournament ends one day after the men’s tournament. That’s hardly “all year long”.

  8. #8 Ed Brayton
    March 29, 2004

    Eon wrote:

    Your Dookies may win ballgames, but they can’t beat my Bonnies for sportsmanship and integrity!

    LMAO. I didn’t see this until today and it made me cough up iced tea all over my desk. Hilarious.