With the NCAA tournament starting tomorrow, Frank Deford had some interesting opinions on the rumors of expanding the number of teams.  His thesis was that the NCAA championship is the best sports championship, ever.  He points out how NFL’s overtime rule, the lateness of the World Series, and the awfulness of the BCS to prove his thesis.  I ‘ve never really watched college basketball, but I know that the excitement it generates bleeds through to millions of people.

This is all to say that Deford has officially convinced me to give it a whirl. As of today, I’m going to watch college basketball.  I have a bracket up in my classroom and I intend to fill it in.

His point about the BCS being the antithesis of the NCAA tournament got me thinking that it’s possible to have a near perfect system of defining a champion or winner in anything in life.  The ol’ bracket works in nearly ever aspect of life.  This got me thinking that maybe this could work in other areas of life.  Perhaps grades? Perhaps buying a car? Perhaps not.

Either way… I’m in!  Go DUKE!

During the summer of 2005, I saw him for the first time EVER at Coors Field where he wasn’t supposed to play, but came out in the top of the 9th and destroyed a ball into center field.  I knew this was the beginning of the end for him, mainly because it was 16 years into his career and I had finally seen him do this.

When thinking about retiring, I’m so glad that he’s fading away into the sunset and not burning out like so many sports stars these days.

No other MLB player will ever compare.