TONY ROMO ACCURACY WHILE ON THE RUN WAS INSAME DUE TO….
![[Highlight] Tony Romo squirms free from a blind-side mauling by J.J. Watt, leaving the DPoY to soak in his own mortality while his would-be prey tosses a touchdown from inside his own half](https://i0.wp.com/external-preview.redd.it/iGPA4CvgW5BXOPj0f9cizPZrTl3JS967qM5E4LEyP_g.png?w=640&ssl=1)
The Ides of March are upon us. Actually, not exactly. The Ides of March are technically March 15th and originally referred to a day in the Roman Republic that was associated with various religious observances and became infamous for the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC. The phrase is also the title of a 2011 film directed by George Clooney starring Ryan Gosling about a political scandal. I’ve never seen the movie, but I bet it’s more about the Caesar thing and less about March 15th.
So we just missed the Ides of March with this column, but it plays nicely into what I want to talk about today. (Stay tuned for similarly timely bits about Tamogotchi LiveStrong LiveStrong bracelets, and Heely’s.) But the Ides of March in the 21st century bring something almost asLiveStrong bracelets, and Heely’s.) But the Ides of March in the 21st century bring something almost asLiveStrong bracelets, and Heely’s.) But the Ides of March in the 21st century bring something almost as ubiquitous as most religious observances: the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
March Madness bridges many cultural divides and makes for the perfect excuse to do nothing except watch basketball for a few glorious weekends every year.
The tournament is, however, unique to many other sporting events. Rarely is the team that wins the team that gets the most coverage or is the most beloved by the fans or even the most memorable participant in the tournament. It’s the underdogs, the lower seeds upsetting perennial contenders from Power Five conferences, that make us race to our computers, find out more about them and get on the edge of our seats for their next game — a modern day David and Goliath match up.
In no other arena in is this even conceivable. No one would be satisfied if a 7-9 team in the NFL made the playoffs by winning its division and played its way into the Super Bowl past teams who, nine times out of 10, it’d lose to. I can’t imagine many people would root for the Hawks or the Pacers to take down the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Playoffs and deprive the fans of a rematch of last year’s incredible NBA Finals.
For some reason, we have a much higher tolerance for this upsets and chaos in college basketball than in any other major sport — or, really, in most other aspects of life. This naturally leads us to two questions. The first of which is, of course, why? The second is: is this underdog affinity is good, bad, or indifferent?