If you read the newspaper, you might remember I had a short little column in last Monday's sports section, "10 simple rules for filling out your NCAA bracket."

I'm out of the running for the $1 million in our March Madness contest but I'm holding my own in some other bracket contests.

I wanted to do a little experiment this season, so I filled out two brackets. The first one, I just looked over the brackets and filled in without rhyme or reason. The second, I followed my own advice.

Believe it or not, I'm doing better when I've followed the 10 rules. I have 13 teams in the Sweet 16, with just one team knocked out of the Elite 8 (Florida State).

My Final Four is the same in both brackets (UNC, Memphis, Louisville and Duke) but bracket No. 1 has Memphis defeating UNC in the finals. Bracket No. 2 has top seed UNC defeating second seed Memphis. 

If you have an office pool or you're playing in one of the national contests, how are you doing?

I wore my Ball State Alumni sweatshirt Sunday for two reasons.

No. 1: Because I wanted to show THE MAN that I wasn't afraid of his hate-spewing  e-mail (Given my last blog entry, I won't name names but he knows).

No. 2: The simple fact it was chilly outside.

Little did I know, I'd be celebrating the biggest upset in school history since the Cardinals knocked off No. 5 seed Oregon State 54-53, and followed with a 62-60 win over No. 4 seeded Louisville in the 1990 NCAA men's tournament. Ball State lost to eventual champion UNLV by 2 points in the Sweet 16 but that's the closest any team came to beating the Runnin' Rebels that season.

Asfor the latest upset, the 12th-seeded Cardinals absolutely annihilated defending national champion Tennessee 71-55 on Sunday. I knew the Vols were down but didn't expect that outcome.

Congrats to my Ball State Cardinals. I might just end up watching a women's basketball game this season after all.

 

I'm not afraid to say it: Watching college women's basketball is boring. I wouldn't pay to watch my unborn daughter play. If and when my wife and I have a daughter, I will steer her as far away from basketball as I can. Give me softball, track and field, volleyball, field hockey, lacrosse, water polo, figure skating, ... anything but girls' basketball.

Fundamental basic basketball is fun to watch if it's at the junior high level. But there is nothing sexy about women playing fundamental defense and running a motion offense at the college level. Let's stop kidding ourselves. I had an open invite to watch CSUB women's basketball this year. That seat was empty the whole season. Don't be too offended, I didn't watch the men either.

Yes. There are bright spots in women's basketball Candace Parker, Sheryl Swoopes are two I can think of. I had the pleasure of watching Candace's older brother play at Bradley University. I know she has a great bloodline. I've played basketball against a three-time Missouri Valley Conference all-defensive team member and she was good, unfortunately watching her and the rest of the team was about as exciting as having your nostril hairs waxed and plucked.

I've never really had a problem with college women's basketball until this most recent and absolutely ridiculous phone call from one Jane Hasten. She has a 760 area code, so I'll leave it at that.

Ms. Hasten decided to call the newsroom today and asked to speak with the sports editor. Fortunately for our sports editor, I was in the office to answer this poignant and bothersome question: "Are you married?"

Yes, I am.

"Do you treat your wife the way you treat women's basketball? Two pages for a men's tournament bracket, and you can't even read the women's."

Before I could even answer that question, the phone clicked.

Well here's my answer, Ms. Hasten. It comes down to money. It comes down to viewership. It comes down to readership.

Men's basketball generated an estimated $643.2 million last year in advertising revenue on the NCAA tournament alone. According to the NCAA, total attendance was 763,607 for the men's tournament. The smallest crowd was the second day of the first-round games in Birmingham, Ala., with a minute crowd of 14,315.

Last year’s attendance for the women’s tournament was 236,464. The NCAA didn’t have site-by-site attendance figures. Please keep in mind that the NCAA switched to top-seeded schools becoming host sites, so they could draw more. Those sites still aren't selling out.

Now on a local level, we had at least 10 advertisers come forward and want to be a part for a men's basketball bracket. We had ZERO come forward for a women's bracket.

No one is passing a women's bracket around the office today, and asking for a $5 donation. I was in the top 99.8 percentile in a women's basketball bracket in 2001 when I had all 4 teams in an ESPN pool, but who really cares.

The daily newspaper doesn't follow Title IX. If you want fairness Ms. Hasten, call me when the women's tournament can draw the same numbers (attendance and ad revenue) as the men.

There's your answer. Next time you ask a question, please stick around for an answer.