As a sports fan and all my apologies to Andy Williams and those who have remade this classic song, but this “is the most wonderful time of the year”. Right now, it has spring training baseball games taking place in both the Grapefruit League (Florida) and the Cactus League (Arizona); teams from the National Basketball League and National Hockey Leagues are battling for playoff spots in next month’s postseason race; and the biggest event of all: March Madness.
Favorite memories of March Madness
The first time I paid attention to March Madness was in 1982. As a child back then, I started to get involved in not playing sports but also watching them on TV. At the time, I didn’t realize the importance of the college basketball tournament, and looking back, it was a great tournament to see because some of those college players would end up playing in the National Basketball Association. The school I chose to follow was the Georgetown Hoyas, run by head coach John Thompson along with a freshman center from Boston: Patrick Ewing. The Hoyas faced the North Carolina Tar Heels, led by legendary trainer Dean Smith, who at the time critics wondered if he would ever win a championship. The Tar Heels featured two future NBA Hall of Famers: James Worthy and North Carolina freshman #23 Michael Jordan. The game came to a head when Jordan hit the game-winning shot (we’ll see that similar ending so many times in the National Basketball Association). The game ended when Hoyas guard Fred Brown threw a missed pass to Worthy and the Tar Heels took the championship away from Georgetown. Jordan brought his talent to the NBA in 1984 with the Chicago Bulls and won 6 championships; ten scoring titles; He made 14 All-Star appearances and became a global icon. Ewing when he won a championship with Georgetown in 1984 against the Houston Cougars and their star center, future NBA Hall of Famer Akeem (later known as Hakeem) Olajuwon, but lost to Villanova in the NBA title game. 1985. Three months later, Ewing became the New York Knicks’ first overall pick, became an 11-time All-Star, led the Knicks to the NBA Finals in 1994 and 1999 and finished as one of the best 50 players in history. NBA history. Yes, Jordan and Ewing would continue their rivalry by meeting in the playoffs five times (1989,1990, 1992, 1993, 1996) with Jordan winning every time. The Knicks were finally able to beat the Bulls in the 1994 playoffs, but by then Michael Jordan was out of the league, to play for the Birmingham Barons, a minor league affiliate of the Chicago White Sox.
Elimination of a single game
March Madness is unique compared to other sports. Unlike Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association, and National Hockey League, where it can take 4-7 games to eliminate your opponent, March Madness is a single game elimination format. You may be the best team in college basketball and get wiped out in the first round. The National Football League also has a single-elimination playoff format, but there is a big difference. With the NFL, after a team wins a game, they have a week not to prepare for their opponent, but also to bring back players who were injured in the game. With March Madness, once you win, you have 48 hours to prepare and face your opponent, a very quick turnaround.
support time
The Sunday Selection, where the committee announced which schools made the tournament and in which region they will play, the brackets are available that night for everyone to fill out and they have to wait until Thursday when the games start. I usually play the bracket challenge just for fun, however, there are people who take this opportunity to play for higher stakes (to quote Randy Moss: “Pure cash, homebody.”) They literally have to wait with pins and needles each game to see if your choices turned out great or not. The law of averages says that the tournament will have some hiccups during the competition. If you plan to participate in any support challenges, please do so. You don’t want to be THAT person who finds out their stand went to pieces before the Sweet Sixteen and you have to owe someone an arm and a leg.
final thoughts
March Madness is like Christmas when you were a child: you can’t wait until the day comes and it’s over before you know it. The tournament is here for a short period of time (2 weeks and a few days), so watch as many games as you can before it ends.
