CSM Notes and News

Let us compare the NCAA Tourney and the Bowl Championship Series.  As we approach the NCAA Tourney, there is minimal complaining about the unfairness of the field of 64.  Yes, there will be fans of some bubble teams who do not make it in who will point a finger at a seemingly similar bubble team and exclaim, “How did they get in?”  Yet, those unfortunate bubble teams have to confront a harsh reality: play better next year and don’t be a bubble team.  That simple logic is much more comforting than the arcane selection rules, contracts and special favors inherent in the BCS. 

March Madness is more hopeful than the BCS. The Tournament is so magnanimous that it allows a special play in game for those bubbliest of the bubble teams.  A contest of champions to compete for a #16 seed.  I must admit that it is one of my favorite games because the teams are competing for a chance to go all the way to the top.  Let us never forget that it is always possible for #65 in the standings, the ultimate underdog, to come in and win the entire tournament. Before someone exclaims, “What? That's impossible!" Please understand the difference between possible and probable. Very few of us will fill out a bracket with a 16 seed winning the whole series because it challenges the odds, in other words, it is not probable.  But no matter how slim a chance they have, it is possible. Nothing matters but winning. This tournament is so potentially thrilling because it creates that sort of hope.  Maybe one of the reasons the BCS is so unfavorable is because it shuts out hope for the gutsy underdogs.

Now that selection Sunday is over, we will hear some griping about seeding.  We may wonder how our favorite team got the treacherous #7 seed, a prime target for upsets, and not the #2 or #3 seed that we felt they deserved.  Sure, there will be a moment of dissatisfaction, but we will resolve to play our best and show the nation what we’ve got.  What we do not hear are serious appeals to congress to change the structure of the NCAA Tournament.  It is troubling that with each passing year that more and more fans turn to the government to settle their problems with the BCS.

The NCAA Tournament creates the possibility for ongoing upsets, which is an important element of fairness.  Upsets are the appeal of stories like Seabiscuit and Cinderella.  We don’t make movies about returning champions defending their title year after year against only a few select teams.  No, these are the people we want to see upset (unless we are a fan of the champ).  When the field is set, everyone has an equal shot at the title – there are no byes.  The NCAA Tourney may be the athletic equivalent of the Biblical Year of Jubilee.  In ancient Israel they had a sort of economic lottery or amnesty ever 50 years.  During a Jubilee year, land reverted to original owners, captives were set free and debts were cancelled. Jubilee created the possibility of reversal which gave even the humblest of the humble a taste of triumph.  I congratulate all the 16 seeds and number 64 and 65.  Just remember that it is possible for you to make it into the center of the bracket.