It’s Raining Now Go Storm The Court

I’m trying not to let all the rainy weather we had this weekend and this morning get my spirits down as I am trying to make this week a positive and productive one (especially with the NCAA tournament starting on Thursday and productivity going out the window). And even with all the rain, I got a lot done and I’m flying pretty high right now.

The rain this Monday morning however brings back some of my favorite pet peeves during the morning commute, my fellow commuters and their umbrellas of choice. There are as varied a selection of rain protection on a handle as there are NCAA teams left out of the tournament. My personal choice is the standard, compact collapsible model. However some of you opt for the larger “golf” style. Good for you....stay dry and keep your bags dry as well. I applaud your choice of more coverage then you really need. That said, have some FRICKIN idea of where you are walking and those walking around you. I get that your umbrella takes up half a city block...again...good for you. But that also means you should not try to walk past me on the escalator or try to beat me to the last curb space at an intersection. I can see from a distance that you’re nice and dry. I can also see the rain just bead up and roll off the sides keeping all your belongings from feeling the effects of the rain. Now I want you to see me having the same protection, until you bounce off of me and toss your rain water on to my bag and pants. Just stay on your side of the street and I’ll stay on my side. Deal? If you're still not convinced...go check out Ichabod Crane's take on your brazen attempt at bodily injury.

Speaking of the NCAA tournament (and by connection the NIT, or “Loser’s Bracket”), March Madness has officially set in with yesterdays announcement of the top 65 teams in Men’s college basketball. It’s a time of year when work grinds to a halt and employees monopolize the photocopier and the printers making spare brackets for their various pools. Unfortunately that also means that any home court advantages essentially go out the window as teams play on (fairly) neutral courts. This also means that there is no more storming the court by drunken underclassmen when their nationally ranked team beats another nationally ranked team. Or when the court is rushed following a teams 1st win of the season. Thankfully Rick Reilly is here to lay down the laws for “Storming”.

I am proud to say that I have personally observed most of these rules during my four to six years in college and in fact only rushed once...1999: Final game of the season. Shawnta Rodgers hits a game winning 3 pointer at the buzzer to beat Xavier. The win also gave GW the regular season A-10 title. I think the video speaks to the excitement.

Final notes. Thank you to Debbie for the heads up on the rick Reilly Story. Also I will no longer issue mea culpas for lack of current posts. I’m just gonna get back to the business of posting.

NCAA Bump...or mole hill?

As tradition dictates this time of year is filled with talk of Spring arriving, Easter eggs and Bracket-ology. As for that later, it usually comes with at least one story on what some call the “Tourney Bump” or the increase of undergraduate admissions to colleges and universities that perform well in the NCAA basketball championships. This usually only applies to the men’s game but can also spread to the women’s side and also has the pull of other major college sports (football, baseball, and hockey).

There have been a lot of numbers bandied about over the years, with different schools that have success (especially “Cinderellas”) and their application rate for the next few years. Well two scientists decided to put these numbers to an actual test. The Associated Press has the article here.

What I’m not clear on is how many of these “new” applicants are 1) qualified to attend these institutions and 2) how many of the “new” applicants are accepted? The way I see it is if I’m a rising high school senior and starting to think about colleges, if a school does well, say wins the NCAA football championship, why should I necessarily consider to apply (unless they were already on my “list”.)? I remember caring what kind of programs the school had, where it was located and for some can I get in-state tuition.

The study and the concept of the “bump” would indicate that students are choosing to apply to certain schools because of their athletic teams’ performance. Why? Are you going to play for that school’s team? Common sense would dictate you would already have your scholarship offer in hand if that were the case.

Following that logic, I question why universities would be so eager to get this new crop of applications? These are clearly students who don’t have a strong academic desire, because they (seemingly) are applying to just because of the prestige of the basketball or football teams.

I’d like to have winning teams and were lucky enough to attend a school with a pretty good basketball program (men’s and women’s) but the fact that they went to the sweet 16 my junior year of high school was not the reason that I applied. My alma matter was in the location I wanted and offered the programs I wanted. End of story. I encourage these schools not to get all that excited about this new batch. Remember why they are applying and really, how many 5ft 6” white, suburban kids can pull down 15 rebounds a game or run the 40 in sub 4 seconds?