There Is a Game Tonight, Right?

I have to admit, I'm a little shocked there isn't any coverage of the NIT on the national sports sites today. I know it's the battle for 66th place, and the level of interest it generates versus the Final Four, but here's the thing. It's Tuesday, and it's the only game in town. No one's descended on Indianapolis yet; there's nothing going on there. That's why everyone's writing the same puff piece on Bob Huggins; he was giving interviews yesterday. There's a thirst for writing about the NIT, even if it's limited to the fanbases of four schools. You'd think ESPN, if no one else would devote some space to it if for no other reason than to drive viewers to its own channel that will be airing the damn thing. 

But no, everyone's focused on The Big Thing, no matter how far off in the future it is or how little news is available. It's the same mentality that gives us an interminably long bowl season dominated by talk of one game, or the mortal sin that is April bracketology. There's a built in audience, so you milk it whether you have something to say or not. Good writers build interest; bad writers leech off it, and sportswriters for the most part have definitely cast their lot with the latter. It's too bad. I could have used something interesting to read today.

Oh, and if you haven't noticed, there's a Rhode Island fan trying to revive the Algonquin Round Table in the thread below. I'll deep six the more offensive stuff, but otherwise I'm pretty amused. It reminds me of one of my first visits to New England, when UNC played the opening rounds of the '98 tournament in Hartford. Some friends and I were watching the practice, and a dude behind us in a Whalers jersey became absolutely fascinated by the fact we were from UNC. He kept asking us what we did for fun. We mentioned the normal things, going out, drinking, dancing, various other pretty anodyne stuff. We mainly wanted him to leave us alone to watch the practice. He kept pushing us, though. "But there really isn't anything to do, is there?"

"Well," I replied. "We have professional hockey now."