SportsTalk

This past Sunday in San Francisco, actually it was in Santa Clara, WrestleMania 31 was held at the Levi's Stadium. I haven't watched wrestling since I was 17 so I didn't know anything about the event until yesterday when everyone on my Twitter timeline were tweeting about how this was perhaps one of the best WrestleMania events in a long time. Technology today is proof that you don't necessarily be at an event to experience how awesome it is, as Twitter is still on fire about WrestleMania. Even though I no longer watch wrestling, if I had the opportunity to go to a wrestling event it would be WrestleMania. WrestleMania is like the Super Bowl of wrestling, it's the most pinnacle event in wrestling. It's a strategically planned and produced wrestling venue that has generated legends in wrestling and has elevated the sport to it's current status over the last 31 years. This year didn't disappoint we exciting matchups, a pretty good performance from Kid Ink, and a special appearance from Rhonda Rousey. I wasn't a Rousey fan until Twitter blew up about the Vegeta t-shirt she was wearing. In my opinion, any woman who is up on game on that Dragonball Z steez is marriage material. It was epic to have her there with the Rock, Triple H, and Stephanie McMahon, even though when I first heard about the situation, I was a little worried for Stephanie. Thought she was gonna be hospitalized or something.

Over 9000!!

The NCAA tournament has also been epic this year. The Final Four starts on Saturday and for the first time since 2008, three #1 seeds have made it this far. Kentucky is still alive and are two games away from taking it all and going undefeated. They almost lost on Saturday though to a tough Notre Dame team who actually made it a very interesting and close game. Notre Dame lead most of the second half, but Kentucky shut them down defensively down the stretch for the victory. Duke and Wisconsin advanced also, but the surprise team is Michigan State. Tom Izzo has somehow gotten his #7 seeded team one step closer to the National Championship and what makes it so interesting is that he always seem to do it when his team isn't highly seeded. This year they're #7 and they have a tough matchup against Duke. If anyone is going to beat Kentucky (which I highly doubt), it'll probably be Duke. Coach K's squad is solid, as is all four teams in the Final Four, but Duke's team looks to be more of an all around team to challenge Kentucky than the other two teams, Wisconsin and Michigan State. Wisconsin has a good team with probably the best player in Men's College Basketball, but Kentucky has the best team. It'll be a good game between Kentucky and Wisconsin, and the Michigan State/Duke game will be good also, but in the end, I'm still sticking with Kentucky.

Baseball season starts on Sunday and there's a few interesting things going on this preseason. Alex Rodriguez is back from suspension and it looks like after not playing in about a year and a half, he's going to come back to be the everyday DH hitter. The DH stands for designated hitter and this player only bats and does not play offense. This player usually hits for the pitcher who does not bat, and this position is only in the American league. The national league does not use a DH hitter. Many people had questioned whether A-Rod would come back to be a productive player, but it appears that he has exceeded Spring Training expectations and will be in the daily lineup when the season opens.

Sidebar: This segment started as a suggestion and at first I was going to name it SportsSteez GT in order to give some credit to the person who suggested it, +G. T. Niña . During writing this post SportsTalk came to mind, because that's basically all I'm doing, and I thought it's more simple than SportsSteez. This could be changed or modified, depending on how many SportsTalk segments there are out there on the world wide web.

The NCAA Tournament Brackets: The Greatest Fantasy Game of Them All!!!

Over the past two weeks, I've been majorly distracted by the NCAA Tournament. All I've been doing is watching college hoops, and the weird part about it is that I have actually stayed awake during these games because usually I fall asleep watching TV. I haven't even made any progress on the new SportsSteez GT segment (Spoiler Alert) mainly because along with watching these games I've been caught up in my bracket. I'm not winning my group, but I'm tied with my friend Stephanie who I have a bet with, so that's all I'm really worried about.

I was talking to my boy Victor (who is also in my group but he's not doing too well) when I had an interesting thought about the whole bracket situation. I asked Victor, "Could filling out brackets be one of the greatest fantasy games of all time?" It didn't take him long to agree, but he asked me if filling out a bracket could even be considered a fantasy game. I figure why not, it's basically the same concept as all fantasy sports with the exception of you're picking teams instead of players. You pick who you think is going to advance just as you would pick who's going to start in your lineup in the other fantasy sports. In most online platforms, you get points when the team you picked advances, just like you get points when your player scores a touchdown, hits a homerun, or drains a three pointer. So why wouldn't we consider the brackets as a fantasy sport?

Filling out brackets also provides us with the same extracurricular fun that comes along with fantasy sports. There is usually some kind of bet or pot that is involved with fantasy sports. Whether it's an office pool or a group of friends that came together for the group, usually money or some other attractive prize is on the line. Plus, bragging rights is always up for grabs in fantasy sports and the brackets are no different. We all know whoever wins the your bracket group is going to be talking major trash until next March. Also, when you're in a group with other people, you're likely to watch the games and/or interact more with those people in your group about the game just like in the other fantasy sports. I know this to be especially true in fantasy football where many groups get together to watch NFL games.

I believe there are multiple reasons why the brackets should be considered one of the greatest fantasy sports of all time. Starting with the length of the games. In most fantasy sports, your fantasy season is going to last the whole regular reason of the respective sports. In most cases, you're talking about 16 to 36 weeks depending on if you're playing fantasy football, baseball, or basketball. The NCAA tournament lasts for about three to four weeks, so you really don't have time to get cute. Actually, you can get cute all you want when you're picking your teams, but once the tournament starts, you're stuck with your picks. When the tournament starts you can't change your picks like in other fantasy sports where you can edit your roster through free agency or make trades. Your picks are truly your picks and your bracket lives or dies with those picks.

Strategizing for the brackets is definitely one of the reasons why filling out brackets is so intense. Many people haven't watched a lick of college basketball all season and are just picking teams they are familiar with. Some people have bizarre methods of filling out their brackets such as picking teams whose team colors are blue and white, or random selection. There aren't major publications or draft kits floating around where so called experts are suggesting who to pick. There are sports reporters and so called bracketologists, but they'll be the first to tell you that anything can happen in the tournament. You always have to look for upsets because these upsets will bust your bracket so quick. Many people including myself will tell you one of the best ways to strategize for the brackets is to watch and pay attention to the conference tournaments that goes on right before the big dance. Watching these games are a good way to see which teams are hot and also have a good momentum going into the tournament.

So now let's imagine (and in some instances remember as this scenario has probably happened to most of us) that you just filled out your bracket, it's the end of the first weekend and you're feeling absolutely overwhelmed by your bracket. Some of your picks lost and you're thinking "I knew I should've picked UCLA." Then you realize that you can't pick UCLA for the next round because your picks are locked for the whole tournament. You start panicking because you realize your bracket is completely screwed and there's nothing you can do about it.  However, this weekend isn't the end of the game as the game lasts for the whole tournament. So you're watching and waiting week after week, hoping your remaining picks can pull out a victory. Yeah, I think filling out brackets should definitely be considered the greatest fantasy game of them all.