Championship Week

Only 4 more days until I can enjoy my spring break! Not only that, this weekend we saw the beginning of my favorite sports time of year, "Championship Week."

This is a marketing device created by ESPN for the college basketball conference tournaments that decide who gets the automatic invites to the NCAA Tournament. Mind you, it lasts about 9 days, but ESPN isn't CNN, they don't have cool devices to crunch numbers! (Quick side note: How can these news channels "declare" winners of political races when 1 out of 2500 precincts have reported?) I think the purpose of the marketing blitz is the fact they show the Women's NCAA tournament and the NIT for the next month and know the ratings will be lower than the NHL, which is saying something.

I think there have 5 automatic berths handed out up until now, but the big conferences don't have their tournaments. The greatest part about all of this is the perfect timing of spring break. Now, I don't have to skip class Thursday and Friday for the 32 games played in that time period. Plus, I will be at my parents house in Vegas, which means 62 inches of pure High Definition! Hopefully Keith and Janae can come through with HD this year, they choked worse than anyone paired up with Tiger! In addition to all this, SUU is dedicating 2 new buildings, 2 remodeled buildings and a clock tower on Friday afternoon, which means classes are canceled starting at noon. I still haven't gotten my hopes up too high for this, as it wouldn't surprise me if my stats professor didn't even know about this and gives us a Friday test.

My blogs will focus on the big dance for the next month or so. We are less than 7 days away from the CBS Selection Show. All I need is for the Rebels to come through in their tournament this weekend so I can watch the show without suffering a stress related death. Depending on how BYU does, and our own performance in the tournament, I am expecting a 9 seed...maybe 8 if we beat BYU in the finals. That will be another win over a top 30 RPI team. My word of the month is bracketology...do you read it? I think it moves to daily updates this week, which will cause me even more stress because of the daily movements of my rebels. As long as we can beat TCU first round, I think we are in.

That brings me to something else, but very closely related, that I am excited for. The Mountain West Conference Tournament. Another weekend of exciting games, and grumblings from the other fans about home court advantage.

Here is what I have to say on that subject. Yes, we get a home court advantage, and I have no problem with that. They do all they can to make it feel like a neutral court, i.e. UNLV logos are not seen on the court or in the arena, the rebs use a different locker room, they have to stay at a hotel instead of at home. But all in all, the Vegas fans show up in droves. Any team would give up all those things to host the tournament! To anyone who wants to make comments or complain about this, I would like to direct you to your favorite teams coach and athletic director, they voted in favor of it. As one assistant athletic director said last week, "No one is complaining when the revenue check comes in the mail!" Every team knows from day one of the season the tournament will be in Vegas...deal with it. On a related note, UNLV went to the finals of the tournament 2 of the 4 years it was held in Denver...although not many people would know that since there was no one actually at the game.

Anyways, back to what I was talking about. The Wyoming fans are definitely the most annoying. WYO, WYO, they chant staggering around to find the right seats, since they cant read their tickets through the massive buzz they are enjoying. I will go out on a limb and say the conference has liked the fact they made mini runs through the last two tournaments, it definitely boosts alcohol sales! Since I cant get to Vegas until Thursday afternoon, I was hoping to miss the Wyoming game, but they will probably be BYU's sacrificial lamb in the late first round game.

New Mexico has a crazy tattooed guy that always comes. I expect a big number of NM fans, since they need a good run to lock up a tournament spot. And Air Force always has the few cadets that make the trip. As always, BYU will have their fair share of fans, but since it is a football school, they wont really show up until the finals. AS for the other teams, I don't think San Diego State really has any fans. TCU is just too far away for them to play in our league, although they make our football seem better. Colorado State hasn't won a game yet in conference, which equals a play in game exit wednesday morning. I don't know who would pay to see just that game. Utah will have a smattering of fans, but they wear red and will blend in with the UNLV and New Mexico fans.

I will make predictions later in the week, but let me just say this. The one team I do not want to play is Utah. Luke Nevill is a much better NBA prospect than Trent "I am such a horrible free throw shooter my wife is addicted to pain killers" Plaisted.

All in all, it is shaping up to be a great month. Wedding plans are gliding along smoothly, Shay will even be joining me for the conference tournament. As will one of my good friends, who just happens to be a BYU fan. Trevor "Cosmo" Tripp and his fiance Lauren will be staying with us.

To end, I have one complaint, why does this all have to happen in March when the weather starts getting warmer and it is absolutely beautiful outside?

Signed,
Bracketologist in training