There is one time each and every year that the eyes of the sports world entirely turn to amateur athletes on their quest for a national championship, March Madness. It is when colleges and universities from all over this great nation have an opportunity to prove that their team is the best in the country. These “kids” don’t play for the sponsors or salary, they play or the shear love of the game, to fulfill that childhood dream of being the best. March Madness is a totally democratic tournament, all teams have to do is win their conference tournament or have a selection committee vote them in. This is why we have seen the likes of small schools taking down the upper crust of the college basketball world. This year Duke University saw an early exit to a much smaller and lesser-known school, Virginia Commonwealth University. VCU is just the latest David vs. Goliath story. Small teams have prevailed over the “goliath” teams proven themselves worthy on this exalted stage.
This year, the month of March saw more than basketball madness, we have also seen political madness. Nearly two years away from the elections candidates have already been campaigning like the election is next week. And the 2008 presidential election shows signs of being just as exciting as the NCAA Basketball Final Four.
For all those at home filling out the presidential campaign bracket, lets do the break down. Our bracket is going to have two sides: the Democratic side and the Republican side. Just like the NCAA tournament, we have to rank the candidates. In the Democrat’s side the number one spot is hard to determine, it’s between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Hillary is a lot like the University of Florida; she has campaigned at this level before – twice (courtesy of Bill) and is a favorite to end up in the White House again. Obama would be The University of North Carolina, a crowd favorite with a strong possibility of winning the whole thing, with strong support from the African American community. Now that the easy part is done and the “power houses” are out we can look at the smaller candidates, the mid majors.
In the NCAA tournament most of the mid major schools come out of the Mid West. In this Presidential campaign most of the smaller, but potentially strong candidates are coming out of the Mid West or West. Bill Richardson is a candidate from the state of New Mexico. Richardson would be the University of Nevada, the team has one of the best players of all the mid majors and Bill has that same “trump card” with his environmental platform and strong experience in diplomacy, a solid team and a solid candidate guaranteed to surprise some people. Another strong candidate is John Edwards, defiantly UCLA. One of the strongest teams in the country, defiantly going to make it deep into the tournament. UCLA is seen as a glamour team and having been to the dance before and making strong showings with history on their side. Edwards was the Vice President candidate in 2004 and knows the game just as good as anyone. Rounding out the field are Joe Biden and Chris Dodd, Long Beach State and New Mexico State, it doesn’t really matter who is who because like the teams they should just be happy to make it to the big dance.
Now for the Republican side of the brackets, starting with Sam Brownback. Brownback can be his home state university, Kansas, a team that people expect to go deep in the race and has the potential to represent the party at the end. The same way Kansas is a deep team with there talent, Brownback has depth in his professional life working on big projects that have been successful. The heralded spot of Duke University goes to none other than the former mayor of New York, Ruddy Giuliani. Just like Duke he may be a big name and nothing else. Can he go the distance? I am going to predict an early exit for the former Mayor much like the Blue Devils. Mitt Romney, on the other hand, can only be one school, and one school only, his alma mater BYU. The only Mormon in the whole race Romney has been taking a lot of flack from the other candidates for his religious beliefs. And what about John McCain? He would have to be the biggest name in the republican bracket and could very well win his side. Ohio State is a school that is right up McCain’s alley. Young people are huge fans and like the team he is considered a powerhouse that marches to the beat of his own drummer (Greg Oden).
My final four predictions are Obama and Hillary coming out of the Democrats side and McCain and Brownback representing the Republicans. Keeping in mind that these brackets are subject to change due to the fact that some people have not yet officially declared and others are expected to drop prior to the elections. One candidate has already withdrawn, Tom Vilsack, someone that lots of people had their eyes on. Vilsack would have been Texas A&M, really exciting and different but just doesn’t have the resources to get it done (withdrawing due to financial support). While March Madness is coming to an end in the basketball world, Political Madness is just heating up. As the lists grow think what school you think each candidate would be, then get your final four and your champion. No trophies in this tournament, its bigger than that. Who will be the next leader of the free world?
Tyler Jenkins "07"
Wilkes University Student
Communications Studies Major
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