Anything Can Happen

Dum da da dum, da da da dum. (Yes…that’s me singing the CBS NCAA Tournament theme music.) Today and tomorrow should be Federal Holidays. We should all be home, popcorn popped, remote in hand, glued to CBS as the final second before 12:20pm ET ticks off the clock at which point the madness truly begins…Anything Can Happen.

Sure this week has been spent in madness already with most of us pouring over statistics, reading articles, sitting on the edge of our seats until the report from Allan Ray’s eye doctor came in, and writing in a team on your bracket only to go back and scratch it out 5 minutes later because you just read an article that said their opponent hasn’t lost an opening round game in any of their tournament appearances (never mind that the last time they played in the tournament was 1973)…Anything Can Happen.

How many people predicted #14 Bucknell to beat #3 Kansas last year??? And that “holy terror” is back this year to try their hand at the Arkansas Razorbacks. (Side note #1: The Bucknell Bisons are located in Pennsylvania [you know you were curious]. I have visited the BucknellBison.com website twice today…that’s probably a record for anyone outside of their student body. It’s not half bad actually.) Can a Razorback beat a Bison or vice versa?…Anything Can Happen.

The bracket is flooded with possible Cinderella teams, even though I remember the days when Gonzaga was a potential Cinderella team. Could this be the year they finally win it? Is Adam Morrison their ace in the hole that will seal their destiny? Will this be the year that perennial tournament chokers the Florida Gators finally stop saying, “there’s always next year”? Ever since they lost the Championship game to Michigan State in 2000 they haven’t made it back to the Final Four. Then there’s my wonderful Alabama Crimson Tide. This is their 5th straight tournament appearance, but in the last 4 they’ve only made it out of the second round once. But I still keep hope alive. :) Can UNC repeat with a bunch of freshman? Considering I didn’t expect them to win last year (I'm not kidding), it’s possible. (Side Note #2: I LOVE TYLER HANSBROUGH!!) Could Villanova be the first #1 seed in history to fall to a #16 seed? Monmouth is coming off a 22 point win over Hampton...Anything Can Happen.

The field of 65 was a little different than I’m used to. Creighton, Tulsa, Cincinnati, Louisville, Stanford, Wake Forest, and (my favorite) College of Charleston (who likes having to write out that one more than once on their bracket?) are all missing this year. It’s amazing the difference a year or two makes and just how much one or two players really meant to a team’s chances…Anything Can Happen.

Today the Madness begins and I couldn’t be more ready. There are few events in my life that I can tell you exactly where I was when they happened, but I can tell you where I was on the opening day of March Madness for the last 5 or 6 years. It is my favorite two day span of the entire year (the NFL draft comes in a close second). Nowhere else can you see 32 college basketball games in 2 days (If you have Direct TV, you can watch 4 at once), hopes and dreams are achieved and lost in a matter of a 2 hour span, new stars are revealed and old ones show that they’re only human, and suddenly we end up with a 14 seeded South Alabama in the Sweet Sixteen. So, from the opening pre-game show with Greg Gumble and Clark Kellogg (what does this guy do during the rest of the year?) to the final chords of “One Shining Moment” just remember one thing…Anything Can Happen.