A DCBLOG Sports Special
BY DC CUEVA
> @DC408dxtr / @DC408dxnow
For sports fans, March sees the one sign that spring has arrived: one of America's biggest sporting events, and the blue-ribbon event in all of collegiate athletics. It is the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, better known to most of us as March Madness. It is during this one month where one sport captivates America's attention in so many ways. And with the announcement yesterday of this year's field, the 2016 renewal of this great tradition begins tonight.
Newly expanded five years ago, The Big Dance will tip off on this Tuesday evening with the First Four in Dayton, OH, then goes into full gear with the main tournament and the First Round, or the round of 64, two days after the tip this Thursday and Friday, and the Second Round, the round of 32, coming this weekend. Next week sees the Sweet 16 and the Regional Semifinals, followed by the Regional Finals, known as the Elite 8. And it culminates in early April with the Final Four, which this year will take place in Houston, TX, with The National Semifinals will be played at NRG Stadium, followed by the National Championship game two nights later on Monday, April 5th.
In a country as broad as the U.S. and where basketball is the only major team sport that's solely derived and developed in this country, the NCAA Tournament is pure Americana. It's practically the only event of its kind in the world's biggest sports nation that pits teams big and small from every region of the country in a three-week miniseries, played out over 67 acts, early on with as many as four games taking place simultaneously, and culminating in the National title game in front of the largest crowd and biggest TV audience to watch a basketball game all year.
It's the only annual event in U.S. team sports where some of its games are played in the weekday daytime hours, and that only means that for one Thursday & Friday, the nation's work productivity will go down while other workers simply call-in sick to spend an entire day watching college hoops. It's where they and so many others fill out their brackets and play in their own tournament pools to see who can outsmart the others in predicting who wins and puts together the best bracket. And there's the strong fan enthusiasm and passion only college sports can offer.
So many things define this celebrated rite of springtime. There's the great Cinderella stories that sees unheralded teams upset top team after top team and making a deep run in the tournament. There's great performances by players making their mark for their first time on this great stage, as they look to make this a stepping stone towards success in the NBA. And of course, there's nothing like those buzzer beaters that provide indelible moments of joy for the winners and despair for the losers where one shot can change everything when the clock strikes zero.
It's all of these components and so much more that make March Madness one of a kind and something that captivates and galvanizes an entire sports nation every March. It provides for some of the best basketball that's played all year, and has a degree of unpredictability and great thrills that brings in both the passionate basketball fan and casual viewers alike. There's truly nothing like the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship.
