Black Diamond Vol
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« on: March 08, 2015, 10:20:38 EDT » |
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Most years, the NCAA tourney is my favorite sporting event, bar none. The excitement of that first weekend can't be matched in sport. I typically spend the final 6 weeks of the regular season pouring over every new bracketology update, and I see the conference tourneys as the tasty appetizer for the delicious feast to come.
But this year, I couldn't care less. Outside of the top 3-4 teams, I have no idea of who will be seeded where, or even who is likely to make the field.
The likely absence of UT might explain it somewhat. The big dance is always more enjoyable when you have a rooting interest. But I've always enjoyed this event even when UT wasn't involved. So what's changed?
Maybe it's that the outcome has already been decided. Nobody's touching Kentucky this year. Cal has already bought and paid for this "championship". And when the integrity of the game comes into question, it might as well be WWE.
By contrast, the NBA is in the midst of its most exciting regular season in decades (and for a long time Association basher like me, that's really hard to admit). Teams like the Hawks, Warriors, and Grizzlies are proving that the "little guy" can't just compete, they can dominate. I've followed the Hawks all my life, although my fandom became much more casual after the 'Nique trade debacle in '94. But this year, I'm back on the bandwagon. I guess that's a label I'll just have to bear- because in following the Hawks, I've watched more NBA this year than in the past 20 years combined. But dammit, they're just fun to watch. They move the ball, they defend, they make the extra pass, and they do it all without a single superstar on the roster.
I have no grandiose expectations- I know this is the NBA, and once the postseason rolls around, games are officiated much differently, especially when stars like Lebron or Rose are involved. But now that David Stern is gone, maybe they've turned over a new leaf. Maybe. Probably not.
But here we are on March 8, and I can definitively say that I know who will win the NCAA title. But as for the NBA title? Any one of probably a dozen teams could still realistically win it. And I can't remember another time in my life when that has been the case.
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