FanNation - The Republic of Sport

 Sure they may be fun, they may give up topics of conversations, but if truth be told, they are a colossal waste of time, even though I do it religiously every year.  I have never won, never even really came close to winning, but don't get me wrong, I'm not bitter.  For the most part, people are simply guessing at which team is going to win since most people do not have the time or network connections to see a majority of these teams play a single game.  Who can honestly say that VCU has a legitimate shot at beating UCLA?  The talking heads only hear about the team, the good player(s) on the team and use that info to showcase their "expertise."  The same goes with all of those schools that couldn't get their games televised even if they owned the station.  These schools are not Cinderellas, or dark horses, they are simply unknowns.  Nobody really knows if VCU can beat UCLA.  That is why they play the game.  If a perceived upset does happen then those who guessed right on that bracket are the only ones who can possibly win the whole contest.  You don't need to be some extraordinary genius who can break down each game to the smallest component and extrapolate logarithmic equations that when the anti-derivatives are calculated will deduce a winner with a margin of error of 25%.  No, you just need to be lucky.

The games are exciting.  I do love seeing tiny schools go up against the BCS monsters.  I remember way back when (like ten years ago), when Gonzaga was one of those Cinderella dark horses, and it seems like Butler has joined them as a monster-lite basketball program.  To say that they are going to the Sweet 16 or beyond is ridiculous, unless you are an alumnus.  That's about the only way I can justify Temple even getting out of the first round.  I think they have a shot, but my fandom status of the school is the reason I can go over the top and prognosticate their winning more than one game.  It's Christmas (Dionte) time, baby!  Getting back to my original point, why should anyone pick any school other than those with a seed of three or higher?  They shouldn't, because the likelihood of that team winning the national championship is between crazy and wacko. 

So if you are in one of the various bracket challenges, good luck, you are going to need it.  There will be people picking games with darts in the dark.  There will be wives, girlfriends, and children all filling out brackets with a better likelihood that they'll win more than you.  There will be basketball frauds who will boast that they knew what they were talking about when one of their underdogs comes out on top.  And through it all you will have to take it, wondering how someone who follows the game can be beaten by the lame, pondering just how much time you wasted on this garbage.  You are a fan of sport, and even though you may only be a self-proclaimed expert, you cannot be perfect all of the time.  Unless you fill out a thousand brackets and pull out the right one in the end, then you are a cheater too.