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Press Box Cindy Luis |
East Coast bias hurts
basketball fans"Brackets be damned."
At least that's what my 18-year-old son said Saturday while watching Nevada upset Gonzaga in the NCAA Tournament.
He was right. Since most of us have already drowned in the office pool, why not root for the WAC?
It was nice to see the Wolf Pack pick up another win. Or at least, it would have been nice to see it.
So much for that "One Shining Moment" triteness CBS has hung onto for years. They snuffed Nevada's moment in the spotlight with about 90 seconds left in the game.
Just because second-seeded Gonzaga, their precocious ex-Cinderella, had become an ugly stepsister, it didn't merit the unceremonious dumping of the game in favor of Manhattan-Wake Forest. A game that had more than 14 minutes remaining.
Come on, people. Would staying with the underdogs for another 90 seconds have killed you?
Would it have killed the ratings, especially since viewers had already missed 26 minutes of the Jaspers and Demon Deacons?
CBS should just be upfront and add an "E" to their call letters.
ECBS: East Coast Bias System.
Nothing against Manhattan, not so coincidentally a New York City team. How can you dislike a team named for their beloved Brother Jasper, who -- according to www.gojaspers.com -- is credited with inventing the seventh-inning stretch?
Still. The waning moments of Nevada's win didn't even warrant a screen-within-a-screen effort.
What viewers got was a ticker at the bottom, one that counted down the last seconds ... 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00 ... F.
That "F" may have designated "Final" but it also signified "Failure" in the eyes of many who enjoy March Madness not only for the basketball but for the pure joy of athletes exceeding the expectations of the so-called experts.
By the time anyone would have tried to call New York to complain, the game was over. We didn't see the Gonzaga bench players "standing silent in amazement during the final minute." (Thank you for staying through the entire game, Associated Press).
It's no surprise that, after the game, Kirk Snyder and Todd Okeson pulled at the Nevada logo on their jerseys. They knew people were asking, "Who are these guys?" (Or, that TV viewers were asking, "Who WERE those guys?")
Yesterday's commentators were already talking about how Georgia Tech was going to have a tough road getting to the Final Four because the Yellow Jackets would have to defeat either Kansas or UAB in the St. Louis Regional championship. They didn't even mention that Tech would have to go through Nevada first.
It was like watching "Tin Cup."
Imagine the CBS war room watching the monitors and asking, "Who is this driving-range pro from Salome? And just where is Salome?" (West Texas).
Insert the word "Reno" for "Salome" and you can almost hear the next comment. "I thought only UNLV played basketball."
One has to feel for Roy McAvoy ... I mean, Trent Johnson. The Nevada coach deserves better.
So does the WAC.
So do basketball fans.
Brackets, ratings and East Coast bias be damned.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Cindy Luis' column appears periodically.
E-mail Cindy at cluis@starbulletin.com