March Fad-ness: Tourney boring after first 2 rounds

I can't speak for everybody -- heck, I can barely speak for myself -- but put me in the sure-to-be-large grouping of those that simply loses interest in the NCAA Tournament after the first two rounds. Like most Americans (and I wouldn't dare discriminate against those elsewhere in the world who feign interest) I park myself in front of the television for most of the day on that Thursday and Friday when 32 teams advance and 32 teams go home. Saturday and Sunday are weekend days so I try and socialize somewhat, but the buzz is still there. That is, until the next work week rolls around and only 16 teams remain.

Perhaps the biggest buzzkill is simply the fact that viewers have to wait from Sunday until Thursday for the tournament to resume. A close second to that is that usually by the third round the clock has struck midnight for most, if not all, of the potential Cinderellas of the bracket.

Of course, I am not a basketball purist, nor do I claim to be one, and thus one can't deny that perhaps the best basketball games are the ones played in the later rounds featuring the nation's powerhouses. So it is not as if the Sweet 16, Elite 8, and Final Four are slouches. But by that time virtually all of your brackets are completely busted and thus you have no desire to see your friends or coworkers duke it out to see who takes home the prize in your tournament pool.

Maybe I'm just venting on the grounds of my own yearly bracket pitfalls. But be honest, tell me this doesn't at least describe you the reader at least partly.

Thought so.