NCAA Tournament 2011: Why Should You Tune into the Madness?

Since 1939, the NCAA Men’s Division One Basketball Championship has been entertaining the country in multiple ways. 

Dubbed March Madness or the Big Dance, it involves the country’s best 68 teams competing to make it to the Final Four and eventually the title game.

Because of this style of post season, college basketball has become one of the nation’s most foremost sports.

As a testimony to the tournament’s popularity, last season, over 48 million people turned in to see powerhouse Duke beat hometown favorite Butler in the championship game.

However, when it comes down to it, it is not about what the team is ranked or if they got the deserving seed. 

It is about the passion, the talent and the jaw-dropping events that ensue during the wild roller-coaster month of March and into the beginning of April. 

It is about basketball.

The first round is full of upset potential and each region could become a bracket buster.  Whether you think your team will win or not, every game can change the entire aspect of the tournament.  In the one game, anything can happen. 

Besides the staggered tip-offs, which will prevent you from having to decide between which games to watch, the games will be airing on a variety of channels.  This also eliminates any game not even being aired.   

The beauty of college basketball’s post season is that it invites everyone in to participate.  You don’t even have to know anything about it besides that your favorite team is your alma matter.  They may have received the worst seed, but if you love them, you pick them to go to the Final Four.  And when your team wins, whether they were supposed to or not, it is the best moment of your life.  And if they lose, so what.  It’s better to gamble for your team than against it.  Plus, all but 1 of the 68 teams wins, so other people are most likely in the same boat as you too. 

Everyone comes together for March Madness, big and small, old and young, male and female.  Everyone makes a bracket, brags about it and compares it. 

March may be a crazy month for reasons other than basketball – school, work, family, etc. – but it is no excuse to not turn into some of the great match-ups and witness some of the amazing talents.