The Pros and Cons of March Madness

Each March, there arises some kind of brouhaha across the country or at least within the four walls of colleges across the United States. The cause is the highly regarded single-elimination tournament officially known as the NCAA Men’s Division 1 Championship, and colloquially as the March Madness. As described by Chris Suellentrop on the 6th Floor Blogs of the “New York Times” magazine, this “is the greatest sporting event of the year, and in particular, the tournament’s first weekend serves up the most entertaining four days in sports.” (Suellentrop 2011)

This tournament, apart from entertaining students and other fans, highlights what stuff different colleges are made of. This comes at a critical time when high school seniors are considering what colleges to attend once they graduate. Thus, it is not surprising that this package of sporting events brings glad tidings to the people as it helps usher-in the beautiful spring season. However, a critical evaluation of the different teams and schools reveal the series of events -both good and not so good- that occur as they prepare for this all-important tournament.

Most student-athletes grow up as very innocent lads bedecked with tremendous talents and become very promising in sports. Thus, they become rays of hope for their families, neighborhoods, and schools yet to be determined. Like the lamb in William Blake’s poem The Lamb, they are fed “by the stream & o’er the mead; gave…clothing of delight, softest clothing, wooly, bright…making all the vales rejoice.” (Smith 24) Then they are exposed to the life of hard work in which only the fittest survives. This makes them ready for the different challenges in the sports scene.

In College, they are introduced into another type of ...

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...nd treated as who they are and not what they are or what school they play(ed) for.

Works Cited

Cobb, Garry. “Big Time College Football & Basketball Are Corrupt To The Core.” GCOBB.COM: Breaking News, College, NCAAB, NCAAF, News. 30 Mar., 2011. Web. 04 April, 2011.

Leitch, Will. “AAU Coaches No Longer Pretending College Hoops Isn’t Corrupt.” New York Sports. 22 Mar., 2010. Web. 04 April, 2011.

Smith, Philip, ed. 100 Best-Loved Poems. New York: Dover Publications, 1995. Print.

Suellentrop, Chris. “March Madness, in Like a Lamb.” The New York Times. 14 March, 2011. Web. 04 April, 2011.