The Opening Round (coughplay-ingamecough) : Why Is This Special, Again?

Alright, I finally have a good topic to blog upon. It's about time.

The big deal tonight is the NCAA Tournament's "Opening Round" game, between Morehead State and Alabama State, where the winner earns the right to get absolutely turned inside out by the overall #1 seed, Louisville (Rick Pitino has always had that freaky vibe around him). Besides the lack of blowjob jokes directed at Morehead (c'mon blogosphere, I had more faith in you), I've been disappointed with the overall "mehness" directed towards this game. People seem accepting of it now, which I don't like.

Obviously, it does well for two lesser-known teams in the arena of PR, but other that that, it's not very beneficial. These two teams are basically playing to see who gets the bonus for being in the field of 64 (from the concensus of what I've read, all 65 teams get a TV revenue share, but there's a specific bonus for being in the true field of 64 on top of that).

The one big "positive" for the game has been of that school of thought: this game will be "the only thing on tonight", so they'll get media attention up the wazoo.

Bull.

I say this because I'm currently watching DAVIDSON VERSUS SOUTH CAROLINA, a much more interesting game, in the first round of the NIT. IT'S ON THE SAME FAMILY OF CHANNELS AS THE PLAY-IN GAME WILL BE, GUYS. JESUS CHRIST. The play-in game will start when there's about 8, 10 minutes left in the first half of this game. Meanwhile, on ESPN Deportes and MLB Network (the order of priority, take note), the World Baseball Classic is going to have a US elimination game (versus Puerto Rico), which I just flipped over to and caught the first pitch to... so yeah, that's on now as well.

I mean, what the hell? Everyone's slurping the NCAA right now, and I guess that makes sense, as they provide the most entertaining sporting event of the calendar year. But... c'mon. The play-in game has never been a good idea. The only reasoning anyone ever gives is, "It gives unapposed in viewership, giving these teams exposure". I just mentioned 2 big SPORTING ratings stealers there, and there's two post-season college basketball tourneys going on I haven't even mentioned.

If you want more teams in, expand the tourney. Don't give us one meaningless game that people will forget about in 6 hours. 64 vs. 65 doesn't guarantee a good game against Louisville. It guarantees a half-hearted attempt at making ONE MORE GAME important. Quit milking the teet before it goes dry.