March Madness: Who's going to win it all? Oh wait, no one knows.

Mid-March marks one of the most exciting sporting events in the year: the Men's NCAA Basketball Tournament, consisting of a field of college basketball's 68 best teams. Actually, it might not be the sport's 68 best teams, as smaller conferences get one automatic bid which is awarded to the conference tournament champion. However, that just adds to the appeal of the event, with upsets galore.

With the games beginning this Thursday, it made me think just why March Madness is so compelling to America, as well as myself. After reading an article about the tournament by Eddie Pells of the Associated Press, it made me think about the tournament on a larger level of importance. Professor Michael Magazine of the University of Cincinnati sheds some light on why the tournament is so much fun: "'The life lesson is that we make a lot of decisions that are the right decisions, but the outcomes don't always come out the way we planned.'"

What I take from this is that America loves to "make a lot of decisions," and the unpredictability of those decisions adds suspense and entertainment to the games that follow. Magazine's ideas also made me think about how American's like to have the control of making their own decisions, even if the outcomes "don't always come out the way we planned."

The tournament is just a microcosm of the many choices we have to make every day, some decisions more important (who you pick as your champion), and some more obsolete (picking a #1 seed to beat a #16 seed, where a #16 seed has never won a game in tournament history). One can look at the many decisions in this existentialist way, but for the average fan it is just a time of the year to fill out brackets, making you personally invested in every game played. Because as my classmate Jeremy says in his blog post, Americans love to win. We even claim to have never lost a war, when this is probably a false statement. But it is fine that Americans have the drive to win, because no one complains about someone motivated to be the best, even if on the global scale.

America and Hockey

Living in Chicago, the city's hockey team the Blackhawks are the hot topic in town nowadays. They have gotten at least one point in 23 straight games to start their season. A win earns a team two points, and a loss after regulation ends (overtime/shootout) is one point. It is a truly amazing run by the Hawks, but in viewing ESPN the past couple of days, they have not gotten as much airtime as I would expect of another sport.

To clarify, a more American sport. Hockey begun in Iceland and other countries in Europe, along with Canada. When I think of American sports, football, baseball, and basketball come to mind. Not ironically, these are the three sports showed the most on sports news shows such as Sportscenter on ESPN (the world's largest sports network). It could be that because ESPN does not air the NHL that they show less hockey highlights, but if hockey was that popular in America why would they ignore those viewers. And of course viewers would bring in advertisers, which is how networks make their bank.

In my American Studies high school course, we have examined how humans love physical and gruesome entertainment, which hockey definitely possesses. So what is it? Why don't Americans feel the same passion for hockey as football or another major sport played in the States? I think the answer is simple.

Americans are independent and full of pride for their country. Hockey, along with a sport like soccer, were not developed in the US. The typical American might think, "Why should I support these foreign sports when the best sports in the world were created and played in America?" This is an honest opinion, because personally I do like viewing football and baseball over hockey, but maybe not baseball. Baseball is too slow paced for me, but that is for a different discussion.

The Blackhawks run is incredible, but it still will never be as important to the majority of sports fanatics in America as a similar streak held by a football, basketball, or baseball team.

Why do you think hockey is not as big as a sport in America as the other "Big 3" sports (football, basketball, baseball)? What does it tell you about American's and nationalistic mindsets?