Spring Break
Let's predict the Sweet 16, anger people
Kevin Meacham
Issue date: 3/26/09 Section: Sports
If there's one thing that will get columnists noticed, it's outlandish pronouncements.
Take Bill Simonson of MLive.com, for example. On his blog - which accompanies the Web site for a number of small Michigan newspapers - about 10 days ago, he took a magnifying glass to the NCAA Tournament brackets, put his thinking cap on, and came up with the completely rational idea that the Big Ten would be the dominant force in this year's March Madness.
More specifically, he said that Big Ten teams would win 17 tournament games (while the Big East would manage just six victories), and two teams - Michigan State and Purdue - would be heading to Detroit. Graciously, Simonson allowed for the possibility that Michigan State would lose in the national title game to North Carolina.
Again: completely rational.
After all, who can stand in the way of 2009 basketball juggernauts - and Simonson -endorsed Sweet 16 teams - Ohio State and Michigan? Those teams have won more Rose Bowls than anyone in the Big East; surely, no basketball team will be able to penetrate the Buckeyes' vaunted eight-man front.
Now, it appears that Simonson's a decent guy (he wagered money against a coworker who believed in the power of the Big East, with all proceeds going to a foundation for neurofibromatosis.)
But let's face it: you have to be some sort of delusional Big Ten homer or blind to not acknowledge that conference's deficiencies. (Penn State held Illinois to negative seven points in a game this year. True story.) So either Simonson fits that description, or he just made up some outlandish stuff to drive page hits.
And boy, did it! Sixty-two people - with names like "Orangecuse" or "bigeastgal," probably not among the normal MLive.com readership - commented on his story online.
I'm going out on a limb here, but it appears that different fan message boards around the Internet fell into Simonson's trap and provided him and his Web site with the page views that make our withering industry die on the vine at a slightly slower rate.
Take Bill Simonson of MLive.com, for example. On his blog - which accompanies the Web site for a number of small Michigan newspapers - about 10 days ago, he took a magnifying glass to the NCAA Tournament brackets, put his thinking cap on, and came up with the completely rational idea that the Big Ten would be the dominant force in this year's March Madness.
More specifically, he said that Big Ten teams would win 17 tournament games (while the Big East would manage just six victories), and two teams - Michigan State and Purdue - would be heading to Detroit. Graciously, Simonson allowed for the possibility that Michigan State would lose in the national title game to North Carolina.
Again: completely rational.
After all, who can stand in the way of 2009 basketball juggernauts - and Simonson -endorsed Sweet 16 teams - Ohio State and Michigan? Those teams have won more Rose Bowls than anyone in the Big East; surely, no basketball team will be able to penetrate the Buckeyes' vaunted eight-man front.
Now, it appears that Simonson's a decent guy (he wagered money against a coworker who believed in the power of the Big East, with all proceeds going to a foundation for neurofibromatosis.)
But let's face it: you have to be some sort of delusional Big Ten homer or blind to not acknowledge that conference's deficiencies. (Penn State held Illinois to negative seven points in a game this year. True story.) So either Simonson fits that description, or he just made up some outlandish stuff to drive page hits.
And boy, did it! Sixty-two people - with names like "Orangecuse" or "bigeastgal," probably not among the normal MLive.com readership - commented on his story online.
I'm going out on a limb here, but it appears that different fan message boards around the Internet fell into Simonson's trap and provided him and his Web site with the page views that make our withering industry die on the vine at a slightly slower rate.
Be the first to comment on this story