This is a fabulous time of year for basketball fans. The annual “March Madness” tournament involving the top 64 teams in Division 1 men’s college basketball has just started, with the top 64 teams in Division 1 on the women’s side due to begin competing too this weekend. Meanwhile, the professional National Basketball Association (NBA) league continues, seemingly undeterred by its spotlight briefly being stolen by unpaid amateur college players. Basketball is deliciously ubiquitous on television right now.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) March Madness competitions are very popular. This may be partly because they symbolize the arrival of spring—which is extra welcome this year after an unrelenting winter. But the tournaments are mainly well received because of the way they showcase the health of, and depth of talent in, basketball. Even though only a few of those playing college ball will actually make it into the NBA.
The tournaments also attract the attention and interest of non-basketball fans due to the fun that can be had putting together a “bracket”. Once the March Madness roster and seeds are announced on “Selection Sunday”, the obscure but all-American science of “bracketology” becomes widely practiced. Keen followers of the game and novices alike immediately began filling in their “bracket”, or choice of likely winner of each game in the elimination competitions, culminating in the declaration of the eventual winners. Pre-tournament predicting of the outcomes of the matchups happened all over the country this week, with friendly and not so friendly wagers being commonplace. Investor Warren Buffett and the company Quicken Loans raised the stakes this year by offering $1 billion to anyone who correctly called the winner of every single one of the 63 games in the men’s tournament. After the first two days of play, amazingly enough, not one of the 11 million brackets submitted to the ESPN Sports Channel correctly predicted the state of affairs. Such has been the extent of upsets.
An avid basketball player and devoted fan, President Barack Obama gets into it too. He took time out this week from placing sanctions on Russians for their government’s actions in Crimea and trying to recruit younger Americans for his signature healthcare plan to explain his bracket choices on the men’s side. Only once in the past five years of him making a bracket as president has he successfully anticipated the winner. For the record, this sixth time, Obama declares Michigan State will be the ultimate victor.
Another fun dimension to observe is the mostly good-natured bantering and trash talking that goes on as people get behind their favourite team or college alma mater. Is there also an identifiable hike in beer sales accompanying the present spike in television watching? There must be!
While being wrapped up in the NCAA competitions, I also want to give a shout out to the NBA and especially our hometown team, the Washington Wizards. My family attended the Wizards home game against the Brooklyn Nets last Saturday at the Verizon Center in downtown Washington. We all had a magnificent evening. Yes, the home team won 101-94, but that was only part of what made the outing memorable.
The evening was a total entertainment package. From the robust National Anthem sung solo by a talented young girl at the start of the game to the pulsating rhythms accompanying the cheerleading “Wizard girls” performing their dance moves, it was a complete sensory experience. Loud participation from the sold-out crowd was critical—both to the Wizards’ victory and the atmosphere around the game. Any timeouts during the game provided opportunities for further visual stimulation, mainly by the cheerleaders. Although the “dance cam[era]” scanning the crowd also caught some wonderful action. Half-time entertainment included a local dance troupe and a dunking spectacle.
Egged on by an announcer, the crowd became extra noisy at critical junctures. This included delicate moments, such as when Net players were trying to make baskets with free throws. Reflecting one of the many advantages of playing at home, the crowd was, of course, respectfully quiet when any Wizard similarly took free throws. A crowd-pleasing and rather hilarious moment was when a Brooklyn player missed two free throws in a row—whereby the crowd then knew each ticket holder could claim a free chicken fillet sandwich at any Chic-Fil-A fast food restaurant.
There were, of course, other advertising and merchandising pitches. A “t-shirt toss” saw dozens of t-shirts being spread throughout the crowd. The Wizards’ victory and the fact that they scored over 100 points in winning also meant that anyone could get fifty percent off pizza purchases at Papa John’s pizza outlets.
Sports purists might question all the distracting but amusing add-ons that seem expected as part of the fan experience at live sporting events these days. They might ask, “Isn’t the majesty of the game well played enough?” For passionate basketball fans who want to experience the game less adorned, there’s happily March Madness to feast on for the next couple of weeks.
Watching in Washington 