Brackets Are The Death of You

So I was reading this, and it got me thinking about brackets.  Brackets have been the absolute death of ESPN this year.  Between "What's Now" and the SportsNation nonsense polls, there's an ongoing weird obsession at ESPN with brackets.  I'm glad ESPN's around and don't care to pile on, but its accepted knowledge that ESPN hatred went from a barely contained fire on the internet to something more broad-based and universal this year.

The same bracket phenomena helped ruin the college basketball regular season as fans over the years got more into their postseason brackets than the actual season.  And, really, when you think about it the basketball postseason itself.  Empty arenas.  Everything corporate.  Casual fans overpowering the die-hards in both numbers in number and influence.  That game has no heart and no soul now.

Whatever you think about a college football playoff (and you know where I stand on this) - I dont know how anyone can feel encouraged by the fact that even with a four-team setup we're entering Bracket Land with people being more interested in their picks and who made it/who didn't than the actual game itself.  The regular season could be transformed from people talking about the top 25 or so teams (and the 15 or so within range) to just the top 4-8 teams who have any chance of making a hypothetical playoff.

Confirmed bracket victims named in this entry alone:

1. ESPN
2. college basketball

Do we really want college football next on that list?

Comments

[Eric]

No sir!

ESPN does have an unhealthy obsession with brackets and the NFL. I was reading something on Pagin Jim Shikenjanski that illustrated this "Who's Now" crap perfectly.

Although if you were looking at some of the ESPN Conversation stuff, the Who's Now junk was insanely popular, it always rated somewhere near the top.

It was a stupid idea, but it worked.

[Anonymous]

Maybe someone needs to start a bracket of the most annoying things about ESPN/sports reporting.

[Chuck]

I'd never thought about this angle before. Very insightful point, and for the first time, I'm left to question my desire for a playoff.

[Senator Blutarsky]

"The regular season could be transformed from people talking about the top 25 or so teams (and the 15 or so within range) to just the top 4-8 teams who have any chance of making a hypothetical playoff."

Especially when you consider how much preseason polls stack the deck:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/preview07/columns/story?columnist=schlabach_mark&id=2980407