Column Contest Devin Smith

by: Devin Smith

The big dance is here folks, meaning it’s time for colleges across the nation to experience unrestrained enthusiasm at its finest: March Madness. What's your favorite aspect of sports? Is it the parody, upsets or maybe you just enjoy rooting for the underdog. The first four days of the largest tournament in competitive sports has these things and so much more. The magic of this massive single elimination tournament is that anything can happen. That’s why the people across the nation have spent the majority of the past few days perfecting their bracket, sacrificing sleep and relationships in the process. It’s so important to some men that urologists have vasectomies scheduled this week dating back as far as two years in some cases just so that they don’t miss a game. There are 327 teams on the Division I level, meaning that when the season began each team had less than a one percent chance of winning it all. Today 64 basketball programs have an equal opportunity to become the national champion, but by Monday morning only 16 will remain. Two No. 15 seeded teams beat the No. 2 seeded team on this same day last year, with Lehigh besting Duke and Norfolk State defeating Missouri. No. 11 seeded George Mason’s massive overtime upset of the heavily favored No. 1 seed University of Connecticut in 2006 to advance to the final four is still considered one of the greatest upsets in the history of collegiate basketball, and these are just a few of the more memorable upsets in recent memory. The lowest seed to ever win the tournament was in 1985 when No. 8 Villanova Wildcats, who never cracked the Top 20 the entire season, stole a 66-64 battle against defending NCAA Champion Georgetown Hoyas led by Patrick Ewing. So even if you think its foolish that all 64 teams could get the chip, then it’s reasonable to say that at least 32 teams could get it done. There isn’t another sport on any level that can offer fans the unpredictability the March Madness does. If you don’t love it yet, try to watch a game sometime today. They’re like Pringles, bet you can’t have just one. Maybe even fill out a bracket and have a bit of friendly competition between friends, either way the most exciting happening in sports is taking place as your reading this. I advise you quit reading and go watch some TV, just be sure to thank me on Monday.