SPORTS March 22, 2010 Issue

MARCH MADNESS

ERIC NAGER

IN THE UNITED STATES , the NCAA men's basketball tournament tips off in March each year. Measured by TV ratings, it's become the second most popular sporting event in the US after pro football's Super Bowl. What makes it so appealing to so many is that the "little guy" has a chance to win it all.

On Selection Sunday, the tournament committee announces the field of 65 teams, which typically includes perennial powerhouses from the major conferences everyone expects to do well, such as Kentucky, Kansas, Duke, and North Carolina. But automatic invitations also go to teams from smaller conferences, or the so-called mid-majors, who win their conference tournaments. As recently as 2006, one of these teams, George Mason University, made it all the way to the Final Four (the national semifinals), which this year will be played in Indianapolis on April 3 and 5.

When smaller schools have a successful run in the tournament, it's often dubbed by the media a Cinderella story, and when they pull off an upset against a favored large school, it's called David beating Goliath.