Wait And See

Today is Sunday, March 17, 2013 (St. Patrick's Day) and is also the day the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament will see the teams selected for this year's version of "March Madness."

There is always speculation as to which teams will get in and where they will play.  
Many (and I do mean too many really) prognosticators/analysts will give their views on the field of teams and give people advice on how to fill out the brackets with the team pairings for the next three weeks of all the basketball action that starts on Tuesday night with the "play in" games and then gets going for real with the field of 64 teams on Thursday.
When all is said and done, there will be the Final Four in roughly three weeks from right now and surely there will be some surprises along the way.
Every year, fans of college basketball see these guys in suits and ties pontificating their views of what they think will happen once the tournament gets going and never are any of them correct regarding every game.
Not going to happen folks.
There simply is NO WAY to figure out what these 18 and 19 year-old kids are going to do from one moment to the next during these games.
Looking back in time, perhaps two of the biggest upsets ever occurred in the championship games.
In 1983, the North Carolina State Wolfpack (coached by the late Jim Valvano) stunned the Houston Cougars on a dunk off an air ball shot at the buzzer to win it all. Two years later, the Georgetown Hoyas were seeking a second consecutive championship, but were stunned by the Villanova Wildcats in the final game.
Recently, the Butler Bulldogs confounded the so called experts by reaching the championship game two years in a row, only to lose. But getting there was huge and definitely stunned millions across America during the three week period of March in the 2010 and 2011 tournaments.
Looking to this year, the selections will be revealed later this afternoon after the final games of the conference tournaments take place and no doubt there will be jubilation and disappointment all around.
The analysts will debate the selections and moan and groan about which teams should have been left out and which teams should have been included.
The fact is there is nothing they can do about it. They don't play the games, nor do they coach the teams. Fact is it is just a lot of hot air going about on the television and radio sports talk shows, especially on ESPN, which really has become a parody of itself with all the bloviating on that network.
Once Monday morning rolls around and the tournament is ready to get going, I will fill out ONE BRACKET and see how it goes because I have no control over the tournament and for this sports fan/blogger it is just three weeks of fun action as the teams decide who will be crowned this season's champion.
It's not about making money in bracket challenges and filling out twenty-something brackets.
For those who like to indulge in that spectacle, I would suggest going to Las Vegas and squandering your money on teams at the betting parlors.
May the best teams win and advance to the Final Four in two weeks.
In the meantime, once the pairings are announced, I will fill out ONE BRACKET and wait and see what happens.