Ben and Dave at Work (Read Bottom-Up)

From: Dave Ryan
To: Benjamin Lyon
Subject: RE: Let's Post this conversation on PTG

Ha ha ha ha, that may be true (I’ve never dated a girl with My Space, so I have no point of reference). It does get a lot less interesting after your team goes down in flames (especially if your bracket is in shambles too). I’m still going to watch when I can, mostly to see the moment when Oden accidentally crushes a shooting guard’s windpipe that comes too close to the paint.

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From: Benjamin Lyon
To: Dave Ryan
Subject: RE: Let's Post this conversation on PTG

most of the “best” teams usually advance pretty far anyway – like this year where all number 1’s and three number 2’s are still alive and I don’t think a 5 beating a 4 is an upset – it’s just that I’ve suffered too many crushing losses in the tournament to every fully love it again; watching it after your favorite team has gone down is like breaking up and still checking the myspace pages of your girlfriends friends

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From: Dave Ryan
To: Benjamin Lyon
Subject: RE: Let's Post this conversation on PTG

You lost me at “bobo teams” (which is pretty good, since it was the last thing you wrote).

You’re right about the best teams often not winning, which is bad, but it’s also the way it is. Teams know the tourney exists and they prepare for it, and it’s the standard, so isn’t the “best” team the team that gets in the tournament and wins it all? It’s sort of like saying the Badgers had a better shooting percentage so they should have won the game – it’s just some artificial set of rules that means UNLV won because they scored more points. (I don’t really think that, just playing devil’s advocate. A devil who loves single elimination tournaments.)

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From: Benjamin Lyon
To: Dave Ryan
Subject: RE: Let's Post this conversation on PTG

I thought about the amount of games as well but all college players play on AAU teams in high school and those teams play tons of top-flight games over a weekend at some of the bigger tournaments

Also somehow the top seeds could be reward for having to play less games – of course none of this would ever fly because people like the simplicity of the brackets – there is no doubt the NCAA tournament is by far the most exciting thing in sports but it’s also the worst at awarding the championship to the actual best team – last year the NCAA champ Florida lost to the NIT champ South Carolina twice during the regular season and the N.I.T. is for bobo teams

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From: Dave Ryan
To: Benjamin Lyon
Subject: RE: Let's Post this conversation on PTG

You can’t hurt Bucky – he does push ups on a board hoisted by male cheerleaders. Every push up instills invincibility in his waterproof fur. I also prefer series playoffs instead of one game eliminations. It’d actually make the whole thing take far longer, so you should really suggest that to CBS. Of course, that would result in the championship teams playing up to 18 games over the course of a month or so, which could kill some people.

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From: Benjamin Lyon
To: Dave Ryan
Subject: Let's Post this conversation on PTG

The College World Series has a round robin format and a best of 3 format which is a lot more fair – but the College World Series is a minor event (except to Ted) shown on ESPN 2 while CBS just paid a billion dollar to show the Tournament so they would never institute any changes; the NCAA likes to act as if it’s so pure compared to college bowl games but they eat out of the trough of corporate cash like anybody else – and who loses in the end: Bucky the Badger that’s who

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From: Dave Ryan
To: Benjamin Lyon
Subject: RE: Sorry about yesterday

Yeah, it really does make the last few games of the season completely meaningless. When Wisconsin lost those two games (immediately after being ranked #1), no one cared at all, except about losing the rank. We were already guaranteed a high seed in the tourney, so what’s the difference.

I think the real issue is that the regular seasons should serve to separate out the cream that gets to play in the tourney, which works in places like the NFL where only a few teams get a birth. In the NCAA it works in theory because there are like 4000 teams, but there are really only a few dozen contenders, so they all make it.

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From: Benjamin Lyon
To: Dave Ryan
Subject: RE: Sorry about yesterday

It’s exciting for the same reason it’s unfair in that it doesn’t reward the 4 month regular season at all – American sports should copy English soccer which has a one and done tournament and a separate league season

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From: Dave Ryan
To: Benjamin Lyon
Subject: RE: Sorry about yesterday

Yeah, but it’s so f’n exciting, I love it.

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From: Benjamin Lyon
To: Dave Ryan
Subject: RE: Sorry about yesterday

The tournament is too harsh – one loss and you’re out. 64 losers out of 65 teams – I much prefer football’s bowl system where plenty of teams can end their season with a win

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From: Dave Ryan
To: Benjamin Lyon
Subject: RE: Sorry about yesterday

Yeah, it was rough. I had to miss the last few minutes to get on a plane, and I assumed they were going to pull it out. Then I got off the plane and heard some kids talking about how they lost.

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From: Benjamin Lyon
To: Dave Ryan
Subject: Sorry about yesterday

Now Badger fans can spend the rest of their lives wondering what could have been if their center hadn’t broken his elbow – brutal