March Madness

[BSink42]

Who's been watching? Anyone fill out brackets that are busted?

[Fred588]

Have not watched a single game, sorry.

[MadMax359]

all my brackets are dead, tho so are every elses so i am not too embarrassed... and who can resist the Cinderella Loyola team?

[Fred588]

Have not watched a single game, sorry.

To elaborate, I spent nearly 35 years teaching at the university level, the last 18 of those at a Division I school where I had quite a few athletes, including basketball players, enrolled in my classes. I say "enrolled, because a large number of them never came to class except when they needed to earn a scene of roughly 20 on an exam where they predicted score from pure guessing was, well, 20. That sort of thing completely spoiled my interest in supporting college athletics, in those sports where this sort of thing happened. [I was a college athlete myself in two sports so I am not anti-sport]. I don't blame the players for this. Most of those who never came to class could barely read at a 6th grade level anyway and had no chance whatsoever to graduate anyway. I blame the coaches for recruiting athletes who had no chance to graduate and the overall system for putting the coaches in an environment where ethically dubious behavior is apparently necessary for survival. In those 18 years in a Division I school I attended exactly zero men's basketball games and very few contests in other sports.

[MadMax359]

Have not watched a single game, sorry.

To elaborate, I spent nearly 35 years teaching at the university level, the last 18 of those at a Division I school where I had quite a few athletes, including basketball players, enrolled in my classes. I say "enrolled, because a large number of them never came to class except when they needed to earn a scene of roughly 20 on an exam where they predicted score from pure guessing was, well, 20. That sort of thing completely spoiled my interest in supporting college athletics, in those sports where this sort of thing happened. [I was a college athlete myself in two sports so I am not anti-sport]. I don't blame the players for this. Most of those who never came to class could barely read at a 6th grade level anyway and had no chance whatsoever to graduate anyway. I blame the coaches for recruiting athletes who had no chance to graduate and the overall system for putting the coaches in an environment where ethically dubious behavior is apparently necessary for survival. In those 18 years in a Division I school I attended exactly zero men's basketball games and very few contests in other sports.

that kind of situation is what people mean when they talk about exploiting young athlete--- few make it as a pro but they aren't getting a true education either
on the other hand, now that i'm retired i take one class per semester just as a lifetime learner, and the way i knew that one of our best players from 2016-17 was coming back to school after last year's March Madness was that he kept coming to class after the tournament was over... the ones who aren't actually students stop coming as soon as eligibility is no longer an issue

[BSink42]

all my brackets are dead, tho so are every elses so i am not too embarrassed... and who can resist the Cinderella Loyola team?

It is kind of fun to watch. Especially the enjoyable Sister Jean!

Also it is nice to see history made with a 1 seed going down to a 16 seed (even if it was a home state team that went down).