Just like the NFL wouldn't be the same without betting lines, the NCAA men's basketball tournament wouldn't be "March Madness" without its beloved brackets.
And the brackets are also fuel for the TV and radio sports community, allowing them in the three days between "Selection Sunday" and what most people still consider to the true start of the tournament on Thursday, to give you their sleepers and potential busts.
It's the most-talked about part of the marathon NCAA basketball season.
In addition to the bracket analysis there is always "Selection Sunday" second-guessing of who lucked out and who got snubbed.
This year, the No. 1 team with reason to gripe was unquestionably Drexel.
Dick Vitale led the charge on ESPN, saying: "I understand all about RPIs, and VBDIs and Joey Lonardi's, but I'm telling ya, throw all of those indexes out. You look at the Colonial Athletic Conference, they don't get a chance man. They don't have a chance to pile up the ratings of other people.
"But you win 25 of 27, you win 19 in a row in Division I basketball. That's the end of my beef. I think sometimes you got to take the eye test and when basketball judgment is utilized I think Drexel should have been a part of the field."
Drexel's snub was particularly galling because the Dragons played VCU in the CAA title game in Richmond, essentially a home game for the Rams. Drexel was also without a suspended starter and still only lost by three.
With CAA members George Mason and VCU making Final Four appearances in recent years, you might have thought Drexel would have been given strong consideration.
However, NCAA selection committee chairman Jeff Hathaway was unsympathetic and even said that debates about who's in and who's out add to the tournament "fun."
He defended Iona, which many people feel took Drexel's spot. "Drexel was well over 200 in strength of schedule, while Iona had some very good top-100 wins. I think we got that one right," Hathaway said.
Drexel, which did receive a NIT berth and will play Central Florida tonight in Philly, may have gained more attention from the snub than had they gotten into the tournament and lost in the first round.
The Dragons, who have attracted a lot of Lehigh Valley-area athletes in recent years to participate on their teams, are often forgotten about in their own city. Coach Bruiser Flint is not a media darling like Jay Wright, Phil Martelli or Fran Dunphy.
But the snub generated columns in Philadelphia and New York and coach Flint got TV and radio air time in both markets as well.
Even Kentucky coach John Calipari, who had Flint on his staff at UMass, expressed his disappointment.
Flint handled himself well, saying merely: "When I saw that VCU, our conference champ, got a No. 12 seed, I knew we were in trouble. Then when I saw Iona on the board, I knew that was it. I guess we just have to go out and schedule better teams. It doesn't matter whether we win or lose, we've just got to get our rating up."
You would have thought that ESPN, which has the NIT tournament, would make sure to have the Dragons in their doubleheader coverage on both ESPNU and ESPN2 on Wednesday. Instead, the Drexel game is only available on the Internet on ESPN3.
Note that the Lehigh-Duke game on Friday night will have CBS's lead announcing team of Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg handling the call, and both are bound to say nice things, which is good for the Mountain Hawks.
ANDRETTI FIRED
Michael Andretti had done a good job of keeping a low profile during the first few week's of NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice," but he stayed too low on the most recent episode and got the boot from Donald Trump.
Andretti didn't express himself loudly enough to become project manager for a task introducing a new Buick car, something Trump expected and wanted.
When the team lost, Andretti and project manager Adam Carolla were both fired.
Andretti, who was a last-minute replacement for his son Marco during the taping last fall because Marco was distraught over the death of Dan Wheldon, seemed disappointed to be fired.
He had become popular with most of his fellow team members, who included Clay Aiken and Arsenio Hall, who wanted Lou Ferrigno to get the pink slip instead of Andretti.
DID YOU KNOW?
Longtime local radio and TV personality Bob Daday is back on the air in his new Orlando-area home with an afternoon drive-time show called "Check it Out." The show can be heard on AM 660, WORL. The show is also streamed on the Internet. Daday said the topics include sports, politics, business, entertainment, a musical retro segment. Daday is also pursuing other opportunities, including a return to basketball play-by-play.
KEITH'S CAN'T MISS – What else but the 32 NCAA games that will be broadcast throughout the day on CBS, TNT, TBS and truTV all day Thursday and Friday, especially Lehigh-Duke on CBS Friday night.
