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Anything's possible in college sports
Upsets are a big deal in the Toland Tournament Challenge — the most intense, exceptionally well-run NCAA Tournament pool I have ever seen.
The whole idea goes something like this: Each family member gets to pick one Cinderella team (a team seeded 9-16) that he or she thinks will advance to the Sweet 16. If your team makes the Sweet 16, then you are awarded 20 bonus points — enough bonus points to lock up the Toland Tournament Challenge Championship.
The 1999 Toland Tournament Challenge provided the most memorable example of the importance of the upset. My brother Kent was just seven years old and was still thinking about his pick for a Cinderella team. He had tossed some ideas around, but was still stuck. Good thing my older brother Mark was around to help him out. The exchange went something like this.
Kent: "Hey Mark, who should I pick?"
Mark: "Pick Gonzaga, Kent. They're really good."
Kent took the "advice," and he also took the Toland Tournament Challenge Championship. The 10th-seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs not only made the Sweet 16, but they nearly made the Final Four. Gonzaga made it all the way to the Elite Eight before it lost to Connecticut. This meant that Kent received a ridiculous amount of bonus points and blew away his older brothers and sister to win the 1999 title.
College sports are unpredictable.
All right, I'll admit it — that's a pretty big understatement. That's like saying Alaska gets kind of cold in the winter or that the New York Yankees have had a few good seasons. College sports are unpredictable in a big way, and that's what makes them so great.
It all starts with the upsets. Upsets are what make March Madness so popular and college football so fun to watch. There's nothing like watching a team that had no chance knock off a heavy favorite.
I usually like upsets, except when they happen to Kansas or cost me the championship in my family's annual NCAA Tournament pool.
Just four weeks into the college football season, there have already been a season's worth of big upsets. Last weekend, three of the top six teams went down, giving new title hopes to Oklahoma and USC,
who have already lost games were supposed to win.
In the past few years, upsets have almost become expected. A Final Four run by George Mason in 2006 became inspiration for every mid-major team that has ever dreamed of making a run in the Big Dance. The 2007 Kansas football team started the season unranked, before rising to No. 2 in the polls and upsetting Virginia Tech to win the Orange Bowl.
I almost always pick all four No. 1 seeds to make it to the Final Four. The only time I decided not to was in 2008, when it happened for the first time.
Anything can happen in college sports. The College Gameday crew might just show up at Memorial Stadium in three weeks if Kansas is still undefeated. The Sooners will likely be in the top 10 and Kansas has a chance to be 6-0 going into the game. It should be a great matchup and right now I don't see a better game to be at on Oct.24.
The unpredictability of college sports is what makes them so good. Unlike professional sports, college athletes don't take days off, and this makes any team a threat to surprise a superior team.
If a 7-year-old's Cinderella team can make it to the Elite Eight, surely ESPN can make it to Lawrence to cover the Jayhawks.
The Kansas Jayhawks celebrate after winning the Orange Bowl on Jan. 3, 2008. The win capped an improbable 12-1 season for the team.
Jon Goering/KANSAN
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE WAVE OCTOBER 2, 2009