March Madness Day 1

The NCAA Tournament is a wonderful spectacle of amateur sport. The athletes aren't playing for money, they're playing for the love of the game and the future prospect of money, a chance to turn the heads of NBA scouts to ensure for themselves a bright future. That may be a naive view seeing that most of those college kids are making more than me and are not taxed nearly as much as I am!

The one thing that I am realizing more and more as I get older is the the NCAA Tournament is not primarily a Collegiate sporting event, it is a business, and a very lucrative one. NCAA basketball brings in $757 Million annually through TV deals and marketing, the Championship Tournament and a few other services. It's star players don't (or aren't suppose to) receive a dime of that. Iknow, I know, they get their room, board and tuition paid for. True but they don't get cash money.

We get all caught up in why they play and sometimes forget who they are playing for. I was sitting down with a friend this morning (who happens to be a huge Gonzaga Bulldogs fan)and he told me a story about Brandon Chastain. Brandon, like Mark, is a huge fan of the Zags.

Brandon was first diagnosed with brain cancer when he was 3 years old. He beat it that time and the next time. This past fall he began his third, most difficult, battle and was encouraged by the friendship he had formed with the players from the little Jesuit school in Spokane.

The players were also encouraged by Brandon. His determination and tenacity, his never give up attitude. They were able to translate those lessons to the court. Yesterday morning, before their first round game against West Virginia, they were told that Brandon had passed away. They have dedicated their Tourney run this year to Brandon. That's who they play for.

That makes me want to cheer a lot louder for the Zags.

So...now on to the results (apparently no segue required).

We have 14 entrants this year and of those 9 have selected Kentucky as the winner (Mark chose the Zags over Notre Dame in the final so we'll see how that goes). Seeing that there have only been 16 games and only a handful of upsets the standings are pretty tight. Dan and I are sitting up top with a record of 14/16. Jeff, Mark, Meghan and Pete are one back at 13, with Andrew, Jim and Sam at 12. Sam, Wichita State...really? The spousal battle between Al and Elaina is still all tied up at 11. Rounding out the group are Matt, Jason (aka Principle Vernon), and Dick.
16 games down 47 to go.

GO ZAGS!!