Collegiate Times

With 4.3 seconds left in the first overtime period, Boston College?s Craig Smith stepped up to the foul line with his team trailing by two.

Struggling from the line throughout the game and shooting just over 65-percent from the stripe this season, half of the country, including myself and apartment 431 D, was holding its collective breath.

With the Eagles in my Final Four, all I could envision was my bracket catching fire as if the guy from the Dairy Queen Flamethrower Burger commercial just breathed all over it.

I was not mentally prepared for it, I went through it last year when Vermont beat Syracuse and I almost never emerged from the dark, cold place I went to when I saw the Catamounts celebrating.

So when Smith knocked down the free throws and forced double overtime (BC went on to win), it was no surprise that I was comfortably yelling "I love you man, I love you."

It?s also why I can still comfortably say I love the NCAA Tournament. As Pacific chipped away at BC?s lead, the living room (which had three TVs showing all the games simultaneously ? very sweet) became very tense. When Mike Webb hit two consecutive three-point shots, a koozie went flying across the room in the midst of several choice words.

Why do we become die hard fans of teams we don?t pay any mind to during the year? I thought about this and it did not take me long to come up with a solution.

I cannot accept losing bracket challenges to people who have no idea what?s going on. I lose sleep thinking about the possibility of losing to someone in a pool who picked two No. 14 seeds to reach the Elite Eight because they liked the team?s color schemes and mascots.

This is what makes the Tournament the best showcase of athletics overall. When the 2005 World Series was taking place, I did not take up rooting for the Chicago White Sox or the Houston Astros nor did I pull for the Pittsburgh Steelers or Seattle Seahawks during February?s Super Bowl.

However, on Thursday I was the biggest Boston College, Winthrop, Wichita State, Alabama and Glen Davis (picked him up in my player draft) fan ? which is why the first day of the Tournament should be a national holiday and why I need to buy a Craig Smith jersey immediately.