The Madness of March is upon us.  The jam-packed weekend, where it’s OK to sit in your lazy-boy all day shoveling chicken wings like the world might run out if you stop, is back again.  Hours of work will go undone, classes will be skipped, and those of us without jobs will get a reprieve from the crushing question of where the next paycheck might come from. 

Without a doubt the NCAA basketball tournament is the best athletic playoff.  No other system comes close to providing the drama, excitement, quantity and quality of match-ups, or socially accepted betting opportunities. 

For all its glory there are still many-raising my hand-who believe the NBA game is better overall.  It has the better players, is a more fluid product, yadda, yadda yadda.   However, with the Tournament about to start I will prescribe to you 10 ways that college basketball is better than the pros:

Spirit of the Game

10.  Just for fun

At one point or another you might have found yourself mocking that walk-on player who sits at the end of the bench.  Whether he is the average-Joe player or Percy “lil’ Romeo” Miller (who is actually on scholarship, but plays like a walk-on), he rarely plays unless it’s a blow out, and Britney Spears’ private parts have seen the light of day more than his jersey.  But at the end of the day, if given the chance you’d probably switch seats with him.  If you love the game enough, you’d gladly let future-pros/European players mop the floor with you every day in practice.  These guys just love to play the game, aren’t paid for it, and most times other aspects of their lives usually suffer, whether social or academics.  You don’t see that usually see kind of commitment for pro’s who sit at the end of the bench crowd watching during games, then indignantly enter the game in blow-out situations. 

9.  The free throw line huddle

Before most free throws each team gets in a mini-huddle to discuss a play/scheme or give a pep talk.  The importance of this is superficial, but an important part of what separates the pro and college teams.  The camaraderie of the college game is nonexistent at the professional level.  Whether it’s because most don’t have families, they haven’t been corrupted by money and egos, or the goof-off nature of the locker room setting hasn’t worn off yet, most college players generally like each other.  Whereas the same cannot be said at the professional level, where many players treat each other the same way you just treated your co-worker in the cubical next to you.  The free throw line huddle exemplifies college basketball as a team sport, not the individualistic selfish style of its professional counterpart. 

8.  The Floor Kiss

In American culture it is rarely accepted for someone to kiss the ground.  Yet on Senior Day at college campuses around the country many players who stuck around for four years honor their time on the court by puckering up and smooch the emblem as they exit their final home game.  The kiss might be unsanitary, and not all players adhere to the ritual, but it is a display of affection for those players who made it four years.  With more and more basketball players leaving early for the NBA the seniors who star are considered special-although with the amount of money they are passing on, some economists might label them insane.  The rare senior superstar illustrates the dichotomy between those who play for fun and those who do it as a job.  Players generally remain in college because they say it is more fun and they don’t want it to end.  For most people who have a job after college they look back at those years spent at a university as the best time of their lives.  The college athlete is just doing it for us. 

7.  Fans

The Izzone, Cameron Crazies, “Rock, Chalk Jayhawk,” Oregon’s Pit Crew and rushing the court after a big victory.  Fans of college basketball provide home court advantage unparallelled at the Pro level.   Partially buoyed by a revolving set of fans who add fresh perspective, new energy, and unstrained vocal cords, these fans juice their team and can intimidate an inexperienced opponent.  It’s even been said that the fans are what persuaded Chris Paul to attend Wake Forest after they rushed the court following an upset of Duke during his recruiting visit.

The Ladies

6.  Cheerleaders

Not that college cheerleaders are more attractive than NBA cheerleaders, but it’s that every guy thinks he actually has a shot with these girls.  “Well at least the ugly one,” said one college student.  College cheerleaders, while just as peripherally important as pro cheerleaders, have a realistic quality about them.  Perhaps it is that they aren’t getting paid 30 cents an hour to perform in front of drunk guys in cutoffs.  Maybe it’s because when you see a college cheerleader you think, ‘damn she’s cute’ but when it’s a pro cheerleader you think ‘damn she’s hot…I wonder if she has herpes.’  College wouldn’t be college if it didn’t come with the little moments when you roommate comes home claiming ‘yeah I hooked up with a cheerleader last night’ only when you Facebook her and discover she’s the one who looks like she got repeatedly smacked in the face with a shovel.

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(check back tomorrow for the second half of the “10 Ways College Basketball is Better than the Pros”)

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Kevin Patra lives by the adage: Those who can’t do, teach, and those who can’t do or teach, write.  Currently, he is a graduate student at the University of Southern California studying Online Journalism, after spending four years at the University of Michigan obtaining a bachelors degree from the school of Language, Science, & Fun.  Patra still owns a teal Grant Hill jersey and is looking for his old FILA basketball shoes.

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