The Madness of March

By Nolan Toppin, OTSL Executive Producer

To my colleague and friend, Jay Kaplan, March Madness has always been "The Most Wonderful Time of The Year!"  I'm sure it is, for the millions and millions of people who fill out brackets in their office pools for bragging rights.  Then you watch the games to see how the games unfold.  But I always had a question: do you like to root for the favorites or the upsets?  This just happens to be one of those years in which there are more upsets than favorites.

My personal choice leans more towards upsets, and I don't claim to be an expert on college basketball.  It makes the tournament more interesting.  All of or at least most of the favorites were eliminated after the first two rounds.  Teams like Virginia, Xavier, North Carolina, Cincinnati, Tennessee, Michigan State, and Arizona.  That's the excitement of the tournament.

Like Tom Hanks, who played Forrest Gump once said, "You never know what you're gonna get."  You also never what's gonna happen.  Take for instance, UMBC, which could stand for

U MUST BE CINDERELLA, as opposed to University of Maryland-Baltimore County.  Since seeding began in 1979, Number 1 seeds were 135-0 versus Number 16 seeds.  Until UMBC did the unthinkable, knocking out #1 Overall seed Virginia in a rout.  It may NEVER happen again; but they will ALWAYS be a part of history, as well as a trivia question.

Then there is the University of Loyola Chicago, an 11 seed, making it to the  Final Four. This is only their 2nd tournament appearance since 1963; and that year they won it all.  These are just two schools that most people would not know or ever heard of.  With one of them possibly making the best Cinderella run ever.  No matter who wins this year, it certainly

has been a memorable tournament; one for the ages.