Hubs the BossWelcome back, everybody. If you're nursing a hangover or a sunburn, you have my sympathy. The closest thing I got to a traditional spring break was watching 8th & Ocean,\ which, I must say, is reinforcing more than a few male model stereotypes; for example, the guys are extremely dense. I'm waiting for Ben Stiller to wander on screen and yell, ""GUYS! Can we stop with the Earth to's?!""
I spent the week at home ""summer-job hunting,"" a clever term for ""watching daytime TV."" Any other week that would mean game shows and ""Boy Meets World"" re-runs, but fortunately, I had 12 hours a day of the NCAA Tournament instead.
I kept a running diary...
Just kidding. I would never rip off Simmons like that. But I'm starting to with all my entertainment references—I enjoy his writing (and don't mind ""The Gauntlet""), but when did Page 3 start signing his checks?
But while I didn't keep a diary, I did discover that incessant (albeit voluntary) exposure to CBS's promotion of itself can make the average college-age male rather uncomfortable. You couldn't watch five minutes without seeing an ad for CBS' new comedy with Julia Louis-Dreyfuss constantly referring to her assets. Nobody told her she's a few years past hot-yet-seemingly-attainable Elaine, so it appears that even CBS's traditionally older demographic might like a warning if she's going to be the next Kim Cattrall.
Anyway, there were games among the commercial onslaught. Games that made the Big Ten's RPI look like a bigger joke than Billy Packer. The collective conference tournament record currently stands at 3-6—one loss for each team invited to this year's tournament. If I give you a minute to do the math, you'll see that no Big Ten team made the Sweet 16. Which, if you look at the match-ups wasn't that unlikely.
But it still started an analyst outcry: The Big Ten was overrated. And a ying to that argument's yang will surely come about, as Big Ten supporters will point to either unfair seeds, particularly bad match-ups, or just an anomalous, down year for the conference.
Whatever the reason, do yourself a favor and refrain from defending the Big Ten, especially if that's the conference your team belongs to.
Because this is a great opportunity to harp on the absurdity of conference (i.e., regional) pride. Look at this critically. When it comes to sports, having pride in a conference is essentially subscribing to the ""if you can't beat 'em, join 'em"" mentality. I'll explain.
Arizona made Wisconsin look like Penn State Friday. The typical Wisconsin fan (whom I will admonish shortly) knows that Arizona fans and citizens now think they are superior, at least in one respect, to Wisconsin fans and citizens. I find this to be an accurate assessment of the impact of a game's outcome, because why else root for home teams?
Players and management continually change. Sometimes the local ones are despicable and we root for them anyway. Plus, people from the Midwest think that their native region is superior to the East Coast. This is obvious. There's even a term for the inferior people that grew up on the outskirts of the country.
So how far will a Wisconsin fan go in order to reassert dominance over an Arizona fan—to essentially stand by Mountain Creek instead of cacti? Well, the typical Wisconsin fan might root for Ohio State to face Arizona and beat them, then boast that the Midwest beats the shit out of a desert.
Problem solved, right? The logic being, ""my team isn't good, but at least my region is.""
Except that it's kind of pathetic, somewhat cowardly, to flaunt allegiance vehemently to Wisconsin, then promptly expand the allegiance to a larger group in order to be behind a winner.
So hopefully, if you're a Wisconsin fan or citizen, the fact that Big Ten teams got bounced early delights you. There's something to be said for being a secure enough fan to root only for your team. It's strangely noble to stake claim exclusively to your one and only team because it means you're accepting their success and their failure—not just accepting their success, or someone else's if need be.
For example, I doubt Tarheel fans are desperate for validation. Do you think they're rooting for Duke so that they can boast that the state of North Carolina is ""in the house"" or at that the ACC is ""where it is at""?
Probably not. But enough of me. Enjoy the rest of the tournament. I'll be pulling for Villanova. Or Georgetown. Possibly UConn. And West Virginia wouldn't bother me.
What? I'm a Big East guy.
Think Hubner has more Big East bias than Digger Phelps? Contact him at bphubner@wisc.edu.\
