March Madness is awesome.
Watching Florida own Butler, Vandy nearly topple Georgetown with well-designed offense, Oregon take it to UNLV on individual greatness and UNC overcome USC's superior guard play was a great evening. The contrasting styles and strategies of the various teams. Anticipation of specific matchups combined with the suspension of disbelief regarding upsets.
The positive cliches abound when critics start gushing over this time of year and they do that Shining Moment thing on CBS. Well, I agree. Not only is the tournament itself great, it sets the stage for the NBA playoffs by whetting the playoff basketball appetite.
I feel that if ultimate were to succeed on any widespread level, this is the angle. This is the platform. Everyone makes the playoffs. Games going on across the country over multiple weekends. Fans glued to their TVs while watching the streaming version of another game in another part of the country on their computers.
I should reiterate here that I'm not sure that Ultimate will ever be the big thing instead of the next big thing, but if it were to happen, this is how. This is the path. It works for club and college. The threat of the Cinderella is always lurking, the formats push players and teams to their absolute limits, and there is always something happening.
This is one reason, in my mind, that the semis are always more exciting than the finals. There is always something happening. If you've got two games to choose from, the following occur:
Tournaments are more fun to spectate than single games. The regular season is for suckers. Follow in the footsteps of the NCAA and market the hell out of this.
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Workout Total:
30 Minutes Max Strength
Friday, March 23
I love the NCAAs
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2 comments:
calling it the next big thing is a HUGE streach in my mind
We're assigning different values to the phrase "the next big thing."
I think of it as a bit derisive, really.
The thing that is of interest to me is the ongoing notion that ultimate will be big in about 20-25 years. The historians amongst us are surely able to recall those prognostications. Many people today feel the future is just as far away.
I think that the NCAA basketball tournament is about the closest parallel that we can find in terms of playoff structure. Sectionals is like the conference tournament. Regionals are the opening rounds and Nationals is the Sweet Sixteen.
I'll admit it, I'm a fan and I get excited for every regional come October. I get excited to hear select sectional results. I do not care about the rest of the tournaments unless soemthing utterly ridiculous happens or if I'm playing at the tournament. Otherwise, the tournament season don't mean nuthin but nuthin. Just like the NCAA's regular season. I'll talk with other players about those tourneys, but only in passing-- we both know that those games are meaningless.
I'm pretty sure most of that was a tangent, but that's why it is my blog.
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