The Gridlock of March Madness, Returning To The Scene Of A Crime, & Why Kenny Chesney Owes Me $20.

I found myself yesterday driving in a  moving 100 car pile-up that I blamed on “the madness” of March that is known as the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. It was actually traffic for a Kenny Chesney concert at Raymond James Stadium, which forced me to park at some guys house  across from George Steinbrenner Field and cost me $20 dollars when regular stadium parking is typically $10. So if you see Kenny Chesney, tell him he owes me money and that I enjoyed his ESPN 30 for 30 documentary. 

I’m submerged in a virtual sports all you can eat buffet here in Tampa, where over the past week I’ve been in the backyard of the East Region schedule, the Tampa Bay Lightning v. Ottawa Senators, and of course New York Yankees spring training. Between these factors, the spring break crowd, general high traffic flow, and road construction that has popped up even in the short time I’ve been here, driving in this town has become the only negative part of the journey. Driving in Tampa has earned its place in my heart as both fun and inherently evil. Until recently, the phrase taking turns three-wide bumper to bumper at high speeds was something I only associated with the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, that was until I began normal commutes from East Fowler to MLK Blvd. via I-275 South.

The madness is permeating from the highways to the broadcast booths. Even Greg Gumbel is struck with the woes of it, welcoming viewers to “ESPN” on the broadcast I was watching on CBS. It’s an outbreak that began on Thursday March 17th, which is why I like many others have quarantined myself indoors keeping updated on the results of games waiting for the virus to pass sometime in early April. Of course, I’ll be heading back to Ohio tomorrow which is a land full of people hoping that in a few short hours George Mason isn’t sporting the slipper much as they did in 2006, but it’s hard for even I the casual fan/gambler to see Ohio State not winning a virtual home game in Cleveland, Ohio against a team whose regular season schedule features nowhere near the amount of wins against current tournament teams as Ohio State can boast having. I also think the Buckeyes are too deep for George Mason in regards to their bench. And I’m not even a Buckeye fan, in fact I’d say it wouldn’t be a stretch to say I hate Ohio State. Just ask the guy who asked me about Jim Tressel during the recent Yankees and Twins game I attended.

Which is of course another topic for another time…

Lost in all the NCAA’s though is the NIT and I only bring it up because Kent State just paid me well on 9/5 odds with their win over Fairfield. The poor NIT is like the only child who got all the attention for years until its parents decided to have another kid who turned out to be way more attractive, smarter, and loved by millions. The NIT is Khloe Kardashian folks, making the NCAA tourney Kim. Which one would you rather be in, honestly? Perhaps that’s a bit crass, but face it, no one cares about Kent St., Virginia Tech, or any other team that may end up heading to Madison Square Garden and winning it all save the teams involved and the folks like myself needing a fix before the “real” games we’re wagering on start.

The actions everywhere if you’re looking for it right now. Hell, I could walk outside my room right now and get some “action” standing on Nebraska Ave, where the lovely Keegan, a new friend I’ve made here, told me she saw a prostitute get punched into the concrete of an underpass while walking with a man, during her drive over to visit me. That’s not any action I’m looking for obviously, I’m talking about the kind that comes with the tournament with respect to gambling which is why I feel the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is one of the best sporting events known to man.

A basketball game in and of itself is much like auto racing for the casual fan, which is to say you only need to watch the final two minutes of either event in order to see what’s important. But what the tournament format provides in the way of gambling and online brackets and office pools is rooting interest and viewership that is incomparable to any other sporting event, aside from perhaps the Super Bowl or Kentucky Derby. I feel it’s safe to say that regarding these events for some viewers and passers-by it’s important who wins as long as the winner is them as they mark off their brackets game by game and  round by round. I’ve never met anyone who is solely a college basketball fan for the sake basketball. Then again, I don’t get to Kentucky as much I’d like anymore.

I too used to be a bracketeer, for lack of a better term. But I’ve found that it’s far more enjoyable to watch the games when my wagers are done on individual game basis and not by trying to predict a sole champion from a field of teams over a tournament that takes nearly a month to play as if I were some Nostradamus of the hardwood. Which I am not by any means. It’s been far more profitable as well.

Such is life. In my experience it’s far better to live game to game and day-to-day than to attempt try to envision where you’re going to be standing a month from now. Take the single bracket I’ve filled out on ESPN.com for example, as of right now with several games remaining on today’s schedule, I’ve correctly picked only 32 of the 41 games played thus far in the tournament. That’s 78% and not bringing home any grand prize. But on the wagers I’ve made on teams for the straight- up  win where fractional odds were available  on an individual basis game to game and round to round I’m currently, 19-4 correctly picking 82% of the games.

Making money on the NCAA in the first few rounds is seemingly easy due to the chalk. It’s the same reason I occasionally bet major professional tennis tournaments. Tops seeds usually hold, it’s the later rounds where the research and the risk come in to play. Or perhaps the better word is the work. Anyone can fill out a bracket and win a few dollars in an office pool. There’s no talent or skill in it. It requires little more than a pen, pencil, or click of a mouse.

Live betting is just that lively. Anyone can fill out a bracket and accumulate enough points to make up for mistakes in the late rounds. Brackets provide a sense of security that single game bets don’t.

Much like the song played at the end of it all, single game wagering is “One Shining Moment”. You’re right or your wrong. You live and die by your choices. That’s not just sports or gambling, that’s life. It’s not meant to be prognosticated and picked out in stages, it’s day-to-day, game to game, filled with upsets, dominating performances, last second heartbreak and drives through the lane to victory. 

The madness has arrived. Survive and advance. True, indeed.

Until next time…