Rejoice, college basketball fans
“I only know one thing for certain right now. No one wants to hear me talk. Let ’em know what’s going on.”
These were the first words out of Seth Davis’s mouth to Greg Gumbel before going straight to the bracket reveal during the Selection Show on Sunday night. He is absolutely correct after what the Selection Show has put us through the last few years.
Ever since the show’s format changed, I have not been the same fella I had always been. It created a real dark point in my life. One of my favorite TV events of the year had always come on a Sunday in mid-March after a lengthy couch session filled with pizza an incredible lack of movement all weekend long.
The format was simple, and the routine was flawless.
Once the Big Ten Tournament is over, I see that sexy son of a bitch Greg Gumbel on my television screen ready to provide me with the bracket we had been waiting for all season long.
(Side note: Greg Gumbel has not aged one bit in the past quarter century. Me on the other hand, I’m 25 years old, and my body is a complete trainwreck in all aspects. Incredible performance by Gumbel.)
Some things in the Selection Show must be constants every year. Gumbel delivers the bracket. Teams wait awkwardly with the satellite delay. Seth Davis picks every upset like a crazy person. Sure Doug Gottlieb may say a racist joke here and there, but in the end we got what we wanted out of the Selection Show in under an hour.
It was simple. We were all happy. Ready to fill out a bracket.
Then disaster struck.
The show went to the TNT fellas, and it took 90 minutes to complete with Charles Barkley providing his expert analysis on each team despite not watching a single game prior to being asked to break down Middle Tennessee. Also, the bracket was leaked online during the show.
Complete disaster.
Everybody thought this was a bad idea. Surely they’d go back to the regular system, right? Well in 2018, the Selection Show braintrust got together and decided to lengthen it to two hours and list the teams alphabetically.
What.
The.
Hell.
Finally, the Selection Show folks went back to the regular format this season, and whaddya know? This was the highest rated Selection Show since 2014.
I can understand sometimes change is good for the soul, but if we ever see another drastic alteration in the Selection Show format, we must stand together and fight back on the injustice once more. We cannot and will not let this happen again.
The people spoke, and they listened. Take a bow, college basketball fans. The Selection Show, and the world for that matter, has been made great again.
Tell the Leader of Deceptive Speed what you think of this article or what you think of him as a person. Insults are always welcome. Send your angry words to him on Twitter @ImErikBuchinger or email erik@deceptivespeed.com
I like the part about Erik being in terrible physical condition.