Expand the Madness

A few quick "programming" notes before I begin:

1. I haven't posted for awhile because I was on spring break. I apologize. This is why I basically mailed everything in all of last week. Spring Break is the time to party like a rock star and that is exactly what I was doing. Well, not really, but you get my point.

2. Next week will be "baseball preview week." Monday we will break down the AL and NL East, Tuesday the Central, and Wednesday the West. This will be followed by the cu de gras on Thursday - our playoff and regular season awards picks. You don't want to miss it.

3. The Friday Top Ten and Random Thoughts will return to their regular schedule next week as well. The NCAA tournament threw off our feng shui.

4. Also, if you have any ideas for top ten lists, or would like to submit a Random Thought for inclusion in the weekly list please do so, preferably via email. We have yet to get a single email. All I want is one email by the end of the week. That is all I ask. Also, The Kicker is illiterate so if you want to write in just to make fun of him that is completely fine, he won't know the difference. I'll just tell him you said he is "a very special boy."

5. I don't actually have a fifth point. I just thought five was a better number to end on. Who wants to see a list of four? Awkward.

Now on to your regularly scheduled programming.

I, like everyone else, spent a large portion of my Thursday thru Sunday afternoon and evenings watching college basketball. It is March Madness, after all. The most interesting thing about the NCAA tournament, though, is how excited the general population gets. This is, of course, because of gambling and office pools (which nobody ever questions even though gambling is illegal.)

The fact is the popularity of the tournament is derived almost wholly from idea of setting up your own personal bracket -- Did my upset pick pull it out? (Thank you Cleveland State.) Are my Final Four teams still alive? Am I beating the attractive girl who knows nothing about college basketball and is only in the pool because everyone wants to sleep with her? -- These are things everyone can get behind (possibly literally, in at least one case).

The reality, however, is that there aren't that many diehard college basketball fans across the country. Yes there are subsets of very passionate fan bases (Duke, North Carolina, Syracuse, UConn, etc.) but these teams are located in areas that are mostly devoid of any professional teams. At least in the immediate vicinity.

Professional sports will always rule over college sports. Always.

This isn't to take anything away from March Madness. I would enjoy watching the tournament even if I didn't have any brackets on the line. There tends to be at least a couple of exciting games, and watching a big upset is always fun. (The most exciting game I saw all week, though, was a high school boy’s basketball game. Shout out to the state tournament bound, and undefeated, St. Cloud Tech Tigers.)

The fact is the NCAA Tournament is the single most genius concept any sports league --professional or college -- has ever come up with. It lends itself to excitement and intrigue. It enthralls the entire nation -- even if just for betting purposes.

So you know what I say? Let's extend the concept to other arenas.

Specifically, let’s have professional sports tournaments.

Now, this concept will never happen for about a million reasons, and some may say it is completely inane, but I defy you to claim a MLB tournament, or NFL tournament wouldn't garner your interest.

Let's use MLB as an example.

Currently, there are 30 teams in MLB, 16 in the NL and 14 in the AL. I would propose a bracket of 32 teams, with two "regions" (AL and NL). To make this work, you would also take the top two AAA teams, and put one in each league as the 16 seed. (This would be even more interesting if an AAA team had to play its parent club.)

You would play out the regular season just like normal, but instead of a playoff system that takes four teams from each league, you have a tournament with all the teams seeded record. (Note: I’m not saying this should happen every year, but you could do it every four years, and have one major professional sports league tournament each year. That is if you still consider the NHL a major sport.)From there, just like in March Madness, you would play out the tournament and see what happens. Can the 13 seed go on a hot streak and win the whole thing? Who knows? That's what would make it interesting.

Anyone can win.

Obviously there are issues with the concept. One NL team would have to move over to the AL for the tournament. The amount of time between games would change pitching matchups. A single elimination tournament could literally be played in a matter of days.

These issues would have to be ironed out, but I guarantee this type of set up would, unlike the WBC, be a tournament people would actually be interested in. And, creating an NFL tournament would be even easier as there are already 32 teams and football is set up better for single elimination.

With the right system and rules, this could definitely work.

Fans love tournaments. They love upsets. They love filling out brackets. They love Cinderella. They love knowing their team has a chance, even if they are a 16 seed. They love the drama and the excitement. They love the madness.

Who wouldn’t love to see the most popular concept in sports applied to the most popular teams, players, and leagues?

Too bad it will never happen.

-Juice