A Ruining Like No Other

Welcome to one of the most beautiful, most wonderful, most amazing times of the year my friends. In actuality it started a few days ago for our small, Cinderella hopeful friends (including the local Portland State Vikings!) who are hoping the shoe fits, but in reality, it all starts today as the Big Boy Conference Tournaments tip-off and teams make that one final push to get an invite, sure up an invite, or move up their invite number to the Big Dance.

March Madness.

I need not utter anything else(!), but I will...although not about the tournament itself. Wait...man, March Madness sounds so pleasing to the ear as the words bring back so many memories, sounds, smells, brackets - good and bad - bracket busters, buzzer beaters, couches, and ouches. But I digress.

March Madness (MM and More) does not bring just the pageantry of hoops and all that college ball has to offer. Unfortunately, March Madness also marks the rebirth of CBS's ability to ruin a beautiful event (if not more since CBS stands for Can't Broadcast S#@*), CBS's efforts to hawk an event we all love, and CBS's bullying ways that mean cramming an event down our throats. Unless you are going to be watching your first NCAA Basketball Tournament, then you know I am talking about The Masters.

During the tournament, you will watch more golf coverage than you will the rest of the year if you are not a golf fan. You will see almost every inch of Augusta National. You will quickly figure out that you are watching basketball and golf simultaneous. It gets that ugly. As we all know, the commercials end with A Tradition Like No Other, but I am not sure if the reference is to The Masters itself or CBS's annual muscle job of running the commercials incessantly. BUT WAIT...CBS could not wait this year. Some CBS marketing person decided that starting the cram job during March Madness simply did not give them enough time. While I do not have an official date or reference to prove this, my jaw dropped when I saw a Masters commercial during the NFL Playoffs. I kid you not my Bracketville Friend. Evidently CBS took Bracketville's "Stay as Long as You Can" slogan.

The Masters is simply a great event, and now we can watch more of it thanks to ESPN's coverage. However, I am simply not ready to digest a fist full of The Masters, A Tradition Like No Other. I can always count on CBS for being great at Ruining Like No Other, so thanks for being good at it!

Get Out And Romp