College Basketball (Wake Me Up In March)

I do not care very much for college basketball and I will not apologize for it. I know some people think it is the greatest thing on earth, and that the first day of college basketball should be a national holiday. I do not, and I am not sorry. Just let me know when we get to March Madness, and unless there is a team I have a rooting interest for (only a handful), wake me up when we get to the Elite Eight.

Keep in mind that I like professional basketball. I am an avid Chicago Bulls fan and thoroughly despise the Miami Heat. But closely following college hoops would be too much. There are 346 different schools in Division I college basketball. 346. 346. Take a moment and swallow that. 346. That is not a typo. The NBA only has 30 and I probably would forget at least one if asked to recite all of them at once. 346.

On top of that, each one of these 346 teams has to play around 30 games. What other sports are taking place during college basketball season? Professional football, professional basketball, hockey and college football. I only really pay close attention to professional football and basketball, while having rooting interests for only specific teams when it comes to hockey (Blackhawks) and college football (Hoosiers). This a fundamental reason why have trouble finding an interest in college basketball: the vastness of it all.

At any point, any of those 346 could rise to prominence and then be gone a second later. Think of how many players and coaches you would have to keep track of, just in case. With such a long schedule and so many teams, there is always a great deal of shifting among teams in the Top 25 to the point where I cannot keep any of them straight, except for the big names or top one or two.

I already commit enough pointless information about teams, players and coaches for several sports to memory as it is. Professional baseball and football are the guiltiest parties. Is this bad? Well I would say it is rather tedious and pointless to recall how good or bad a random player that most have never heard of is. Even outside of fantasy sports (much of the blame can be put there, but I love fantasy), my knowledge is unnecessarily extensive. I do not think I can handle adding 346 more teams-worth of information, nor do I desire to.

If you are a rabid college hoops fan, I can understand that. I am the same way about other sports, just not this one. It would just be too exhausting to add it on top of everything else. And I want to take a moment and quickly address an issue some have been raising (it concerns college football as well). Given the various recruiting scandals, NCAA violations and allegations of players getting payed/receiving improper benefits/etc. some people think that college athletes should be payed. Do these people know what a scholarship is?

Until next time, Orange Hat (and hair!) Guy