#NerdsUnite: Play on playa! (Breaking down the world of sports so you don't have to!)
<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Derek - I met him when I was professor for a day at CSUF. Really rad dude, and he wants to come on board to help explain to us nerdy folk the wild world of sports. Smart dude, and knows his shizzy shiznat. I only have one more thing left to say ... HIT IT DEREK!!!</editorsnote>
#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @DerekJ_AllDay
I hope all of you are ready to be overwhelmed with entertainment, because today marks the beginning of the craziest and most difficult to follow championship tournament in sports. That's right! It's muh, muh, muh March Madness! The tournament that decides the best college basketball team in America consists of 64 teams separated into 4 brackets the South, East, West and Midwest. With 16 teams in each of the brackets, the games are then setup by seeds. The best team or #1 seed plays the lowest ranked team #16, #2 plays #15, etc. For shits and giggles fantasy geeks like myself love to try and predict the winners of this crazy tournament by filling out bracket after bracket, just hoping that one of them turns out perfect. It never happens.
The reason that never happens is because today alone 16 teams are going to be eliminated. Then, the very next day (this Friday) another 16 teams are once again going to be eliminated from contention. This trend continues until the entire 64 team field is reduced to just 2 remaining teams who then play in the biggest game of their lives.
If you pay attention to college basketball there are a few constants that you have learned over the years. These are that the universities of Duke, Kentucky and North Carolina are always going to be really good and are likely to play for the championship in any given year. It is certainly unique in that sense when comparing it to tournaments in other sports which typically have much more parody.
Don't let the lack of parody amongst the champions fool you, the excitement in this tournament is par none. Everyone loves an underdog, and because of the structure and importance of every single game, there is always a favorite and an underdog for every game. Often times high level seeds make deep runs into the tournament and break the hearts of a lot of better ranked teams along the way. This type of drama is rarely offered in any of the major leagues.
It is difficult to explain a hell of a lot more because the tournament itself is not that difficult to understand, but it's the design of the tournament and the game play itself that truly makes this the best tournament in sports. Besides the games and level of competition, the environments that the stadiums offer are absolutely insane. Many of you have gone to baseball, football, or hockey games...now just imagine all of the fans at those games being drunk college kids. These college kids are about as committed to their schools/teams as you can be, and they do all they can to disrupt the opposing team. The fans truly are fun to watch and most are worthy of as much attention as the games themselves.
For those who are interested you can go to ESPN.com and review the bracket for this years tournament, and you can also fill out a bracket yourself. A more direct link to all of this is here (http://games.espn.go.com/tournament-challenge-bracket/en/bracket). Good luck on all of your picks this year and I hope school/work isn't too harsh! Tweet me @DerekJ_AllDay if you wanna talk March Madness or any other sport with me.