I thought the best part about playing in Chicago last weekend was going to be the huge Badger crowds. Turns out, the best part was being able to watch any game I wanted on DirecTV at my parents' house while I was struck down with strep throat.
The March Madness package was more entertaining last year when the first round games were actually good, but you still can't go wrong by watching 12 straight hours of basketball for four straight days. You start to notice the little things and you criticize them even though they don't matter.
Take James Brown for instance. He was doing play-by-play in Sacramento on Thursday and Saturday and he was awful. Stick to the NFL studio J.B., because you managed to make Len Elmore actually sound like a basketball analyst. Sadly, CBS is bringing Brown to the Sweet 16 instead of Gus Johnson, who I think is the best basketball announcer CBS has. Johnson brings excitement and calls it with emotion. Brown calls it like he can't wait to go home and eat a cheeseburger.
You also start to develop new favorite players when you watch that much basketball in a weekend. How about Wayne Chism from Tennessee? His name is Chism. Where does that come from? It doesn't sound Irish or German or really anything at all for that matter. I'm thinking it came straight from the Red Light District. Chism is averaging 9.1 points per game as a freshman, which would put him on some all-freshman teams. Personally I would just like to put him on the all-porn name team. But yeah, it's good he is only a freshman because I get to say Wayne Chism for three more years.
One of the other themes of the weekend was the amazing number of games that I predicted right. Unfortunately, when I checked the Facebook standings I realized I was only winning one pool—the one with my roommates (and that's like stealing candy from a baby). It really only made me realize how much I have sucked at picking these brackets in the past. This is by far the best I have ever done and I'm only in 208,064th place globally. If Facebook was still only open to just college students I would maybe be within 25,000 of the leader and I would at least feel better. I think the most frustrating thing is that I look at ""My Friends' Standings"" and I realize nine of the top 10 couldn't even tell me who Marcus Landry is.
This also has to be the first year that everyone's bandwagon upset picks were right. Virginia Commonwealth beat Duke (mainly because Gerald Henderson did not try to take out VCU's best player) and Winthrop topped Notre Dame. Usually these picks never actually work out, but the difference this year was that VCU and Winthrop were actually better than the teams they ""upset.""
Finally, you can't help but notice the bands and cheerleaders in the NCAA Tournament. I don't know anything about music or doing back flips but I do know that it is sad when you have three more male cheerleaders than girl cheerleaders like Georgia Tech. Sitting in the United Center Friday, I couldn't help but wonder if the Yellow Jackets are embarrassed by their following.
So, now that the Badgers are out, I will relish the opportunity to just sit on a couch this weekend and relax again while I watch countless hours of basketball.
And here's to hoping Ohio State gets beat by Chism.
Adam is a junior majoring in journalism. He can be reached at hoge@dailycardinal.com.
