It's madness, I tell you! MADNESS!

Ah, March. That blessed time of year when 65 college basketball teams wage war to find out which will claim the title of national champion. In 64 games over three weekends, only one will emerge victorious. The only question is: who will it be?

I really only allow myself to get completely obsessed with one sporting event all year, and that is the NCAA tournament. I mean, I enjoy the Super Bowl and the World Series, but I don't really get obsessed unless my team is in it. That doesn't happen very often...it's one of the problems I encounter being a Cubs fan. But the whole process of the NCAA tournament fascinates me...figuring out who the teams will be, where they'll play, who they'll play, then deciding who will win every game before game one has even tipped off. It's great.

My only real beef with the tournament as it is now is the play-in game. Basically, the two worst teams in the tournament play a game to determine who has the right to get thumped by the overall number one seed in the first round. It's nice to get more schools in the tournament, but I have a problem with putting two small schools that won their conference tournament in this game. The only way these two teams (Coppin State and Mount St. Mary's) will ever make it to the NCAAs is by winning their conference tournaments. So rather than letting them play in the actual tournament, they have to play each other to see which one makes the final 64 and will lose to UNC. It's a stupid system. I say make some of the bubble teams (teams that only got an at-large bid by the skin of their teeth) play each other for a 12 seed if you want, but let the conference champions play in the actual tournament. Yes, Coppin State and Mount St. Mary's have no chance, but let them play. End of rant.

So, with Selection Sunday yesterday, we have a tournament, and I've made my picks. I'm always concerned about advertising them in case I jinx something, but whatever happens happens. I'm going with UCLA over Kansas in the championship game.