"Yeah baby!" Dick Vitale's raspy voice echoes through my ears. It's march, you know what that means. March Madness! For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term "March Madness", or just don't really know too much about it, it is the nickname for the NCAA Division I mens basketball tournament at the end of the year. Another common name is "The Big Dance."
It usually begins in mid to late March, hence the name "March Madness", and continues into early April. Sixty-eight of the nations top teams get a chance to play in the tournament. They can qualify in two different ways, either by winning their conference tournament or by being picked by the selection committee. After that they are ranked 1-16 and placed in one of the four divisions: Midwest, South, East, and West. Two teams from each division are given the same seed and must play in the first round of the tournament. It's sort of like a play in game, but don't call it that, the teams in it might get offended since they are actually "in" the tournament already.
After the first round teams must remain undefeated through six games to crown themselves the champions. Lose and you're out. Each round gets more gets more difficult as weaker competition is filtered out. Although the championship is every teams ultimate goal, the winner of each division advances to the Final Four which is a great achievement for any team.
Every year I prepare myself for March Madness by watching conference tournaments and a littles extra Sportscenter to decide who's in it to win and who's not going anywhere. I normally don't watch much college basketball but it is necessary for me to watch "The Big Dance." My reasoning, Bracketology. Bracketology is a common practice of millions of Americans. It's really simple, all there is to do is grab a bracket and fill out who you think is going to win. Some people do it for fun, just to see how much of an expert they really are. Others, however, do it for money. I am actually in a $5 league right now.
Each person has their own unique strategy for picking their winning bracket. Some of the more popular ones are following the experts, going with the higher seed, or picking ones' alma mater. Other, less famous, but still popular strategies include flipping a coin, picking which mascot would win in a fight, or picking favorite colors. Mine is to just go with my first instinct. No matter what strategy you use it's always a blast checking how your bracket's doing and rooting for the teams you picked.The fun action-packed tournament always brightens up my March because with 67 games in a 20 day span, I never have the excuse, "There's nothing to watch."
Your writing had a good description of March Madness as well as Bracketology It might have been helpful to include a bracket, just to show unaware readers how it works. My strategy for picking the winners is to to use a complicated series of algorithms to determine a champion.
ReplyDeleteI think you did a good job explaining the whole process to unaware readers! I don't really understand the whole point of doing the bracketology for money. Especially because the chances of you actually getting it right is so slim. I heard that there are over 147.5 QUINTILLION (didn't even know that was a number) ways to fill it out. That's crazy. But good luck and nice work! :)
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your pick of march madness. Every year I also follow the games. I tend to only watch Kansas although once it comes down to the final four I watch all of the games. You better be cheering for Kansas! I enjoyed the personal parts about your brackets. I think onces all the games are over you could extend this peice by added your emotions from each week.
ReplyDeleteHunter, Fun topic to write about. I enjoy your attention getter because I can hear his voice in my head. You do a nice job of providing a thorough explanation. I don't think that I've ever heard of "Bracketology." I learned something new. I've used several methods, from discussion with my dad, to random picks.
ReplyDeleteEven though it is a blog, you do need to proofread. Run-ons and punctuation errors crept into your writing.