Brackets Brackets Brackets. It’s like Christmas day for everyone who sits at a desk all week. Nick and I peruse the bracket to talk about some of the top storylines, and Nick gives the ridiculous impression that he won’t be filling out a bracket this year.
Ridiculous. Lots of other blogs involved. Get in now before it fills up.
I then have the opportunity to talk with Kyle Whelliston of MidMajority.com to get some insight into the mid-majors who are dancing this year. Not only do we talk about the Butlers and the Woffords of the world, but we get into some of the theory about what makes a team a mid-major. The Mountain West is no longer a mid-major, but is the A-10? Is C-USA? Heck, with barely two teams in, is the Pac-10? We kid, about the last one, obviously, but there is a huge gray area surrounding The Mid Majority’s “red line” of demarcation for mid-major status.
We also discuss some of the teams you may not know much about in the bracket, and who has a real chance to do some damage in the tournament. Is anything really a true upset when it’s commonplace to have major conference teams like Washington and Florida as double-digit seeds and top five and six seeds going to traditional mid-majors?
Did someone on CBS — I want to give “credit” to Greg Anthony — really call New Mexico a sleeper in the East? They are a THREE SEED. But who are some sleepers? And is it fair to call a major conference team in the double-digits a sleeper, or just an underachiever? Are there any true sleepers out there?
Kyle also implores fans to follow the mid-majors all year, not just when it’s trendy to pick them in your bracket. He uses the analogy that they are cute puppies you can love forever, not goldfish you flush after a few weeks. This actually happens, and is so perfect an analogy it needs to be on a t-shirt.
MORE BRACKETS:
Nick and I discuss the CBS schedule for the games. The 5:00 p.m. game is the lost timeslot. And why are there so many teams playing at the same time as others in their conference. .
HOUSEKEEPING:
I was on TV today, doing a quick Skype spot with Nicole Brewer from CBS3 in Philly about the Ryan Howard for Albert Pujols rumor. Plus, some more SAS talk and a quick note about David Beckham.
Brackets! Thanks for listening.
Tags: Brackets, CBS, Jim Nantz, March Madness, Mid Majority, Stephen A. Smith
Come on Nick – all the cool kids are bracketing, you KNOW you wanna. OneofusOneofusOneofus
I can only hope I make a decent showing in the BlogswithBrackets challenge though my team name (How Many Can I get Wrong?) probably shows little faith.
I love March Madness. I do so much football stuff all year long, it’s one of the times a year I get to focus on another sport. Even if I’m not very good at it, it’s fun and a great tourney.
I’m surprised the Pac 10 made such a crappy showing. Or maybe I’m not.
Anyway looking forward to a lot of Madness talk over the next few weeks.
Ummm, you guys talked about Beckham not being able to play in the World Cup. The thing non-hardcore soccer followers(like me) don’t realize is Beckham probably wouldn’t have played very much anyway, now it just solidifies that.
I half expected Nick to say, “I choose not to run!”
Two other things: One, I can almost guarantee that the Michigan State game will be the one shown in Chicago during that time slot. Given that the Illinois region has never been shown the 5p.m. game as long as I’ve lived here, that probably was the thought process of picking them instead of Butler (which is also close to Chicago).
And two, that TSB link is an awful variation of a RickRoll, surprising everyone with a dose of Shanoff like that.