I used to get more excited about the NCAA Tournament and Selection Sunday specifically. Routinely, that Sunday through to the first weekend was the greatest eight days on the sports calendar. Perhaps your team being in the World Series would come close - but I grew up in Seattle, so I wouldn't know.
It's still great and there are definitely moments of inspiration - but nothing like it used to be. There were a few factors, but the biggest to me are the homogenization and regionalization of the the sites.
First, homogenization. Around a half-decade ago the NCAA began use their own courts instead of those of the home arena. I confess, I'm a dork, but I looked forward to seeing the different arenas and what court they would use. How well would a NBA arena mask their professional markings - Sacramento always seemed bad at it - putting a big beige splotch over the Kings logo. KeyArena used the court from the state high school tournaments. If nothing else, you could tell at a glance what game you were watching when CBS would switch. You knew that this happened in Boise. This was fairly boring, but at least Indianapolis was written in large letters on the court. This happened in the city that stole the Sonics.
Where was this game played? It says Portland on one baseline and Rose Garden on the other, but the blue-on-black isn't exactly easy to read. What about this? Back in Boise, believe it or not. When you literally remove the color of the event, it dilutes the memories.
Second, regionalization. Until about 10 years ago, only the top couple of seeds were "rewarded" by playing close to home for the first couple of rounds. In 1999 Stanford was a 2 seed brought to Seattle, but number 3 was North Carolina! travelling 3000 miles to play Weber State? In a game that tipped at 10pm eastern? That doesn't happen now. By being a 3-seed, Carolina would never play more than about a day's drive from Chapel Hill. And if Weber State isn't lucky, they get the 10am Mountain tip. Then they came up with "pods" in which the teams playing in either the afternoon or evening sessions would play each other in round two, but almost never advance to play each other in the Sweet 16.
It's still great, and I'll still watch, but a lot of the flavor has been sucked out of it.
Hammy, Rufus and Hockey Pucks is proud to announce our own Bracket Tournament. There is a prize at the end for the winner - which I will announce later in the week. You'll need a yahoo ID to access it. Yahoo allows up to five entries.
Go to Yahoo tourney Pick'em. Search for:
Hammy Rufus & Hockey Pucks Group ID# 138622
Password Glucagon
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