NCAA Basketball

I've never been a basketball player; I'm short. In the summer of 2001, I was playing basketball with some people who had played in high school. One of them told me I played like a power forward, but didn't have the height. He said that I played tough, played good defense, played like I wanted to punish anyone who was trying to score, but I'm short. I played bigger than I am, but I'm short, and can't really stop anyone taller than 6 ft. tall.

Because I'm not a basketball player, I'm a basketball watcher. I LOVE college basketball, but I don't care much for the NBA. Apparently, at least in the Bay Area, I'm very much in the minority. No one seems to follow college basketball here. I've talked to students who claim to know college basketball, and I feel like I'm talking to my mom. A student told me this year, that they thought Stanford would make it to final four; Stanford didn't even make it into the tournament, and was one of the worst teams in the Pac 10.

In my view college basketball is so much more entertaining than the NBA, particularly in the post-season. One game makes or breaks a team in college; in the NBA, teams play best of 7, which sometimes drag on for nearly 2 weeks. That leads to my second point. The NCAA tournament lasts 3 weeks, with no games on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, a total of 10 days of games. The NBA playoffs last for an eternity, have games constantly, many of which mean nothing; does anyone really care about the 1st game of the 1st round of the playoffs? If the higher ranked team loses that game, they have many other games to make up for it. You lose in the first round of the NCAA tournament, and you're going home.

There seems to be almost no emotion in early games in then NBA playoffs, just another day at the office, ho hum, the day is done. In the NCAA you see guys filled with emotion after a win or a loss.

There is also this link that binds college basketball fans. As an MSU alum, I can wear an MSU t-shirt after a big game, and hear people shout "go green", or "go Spartans", because there is that connection. No one would make contact with a stranger wearing an Orlando Magic shirt if they won a big game. People would just think you're jumping on the bandwagon after a win - like when EVERYONE was wearing Warriors gear after they won in the first round of the playoffs a couple of years ago. Is there a real bond there? Why don't I see these people wearing Warriors this year? Because they stink.

College basketball fans, true college basketball fans, are fans for life. I love college basketball, and I can't see why I never would feel that way. So, as the final four is set, I'm looking forward to watching 3 more basketball games, and then looking forward to the 2010 March madness (with opening games in San Jose).

Math 10

I'm teaching statistics next quarter. I'm not looking forward to the first day.

Over 45 students have been told they will get seats in classes that should only have 35. In addition, because the classes I'm teaching are geared to students who have had problems in math, they should be limited 25 students.

I understand that students (and their counselors) want to take a class that would offer them time to spend more time on the material, in the hopes of being successful. I wonder though, if they realize that in a class that big, they cannot expect to be successful.