Isn't it March yet?

There's nothing in the world better than kicking back right around Spring Break and watching the NCAA tournament all day long. It's the perfect time to relax, think of the upcoming summer and get the rare opportunity to see East Tennessee State play on live television. Throw all of this together and it is without a doubt the best time of the year.\nIt's just too bad we're still stuck in October.\nLast Friday night, the college basketball season officially got underway with several schools holding their annual midnight madness festivities. While many college football fans will still continue to follow their teams' progress, fans with poor teams will forget they even have a program to begin with (everyone should know who I'm talking about). \nBut that's OK; it's very understandable. In fact, I would encourage it in most cases.\nBy now, most college football fans should know whether or not their team is even bowl-worthy. Even if they are, the bowl games with a .com at the end of their names don't count for much. So once those eliminations are made, there are really only about 20 schools that should care about their football teams' performances from here on out. For the remaining schools, I would advise you to buy your season basketball tickets now and get the best seats possible.\nI don't mean to knock college football, but really, from this point on, it becomes too predictable. Unlike the March Madness tournament where essentially anything can happen, the college football postseason is just too boring. There is only one game of real importance, and it decides the national champion, regardless of their final ranking. \nAfter last year's debacle with the final rankings and the Heisman Trophy award, I'm very concerned with how this college football season is going to end. It's extremely close at the top of the rankings, and I just hope the bowl games are sorted out fairly. Don't get me wrong, I'll still watch and root for my favorite teams, but the CBS college basketball theme will be running through my head from now until the end of the tournament. In my mind, Lee Corso will soon be replaced with Dick Vitale and E201 will be replaced with Bracketology 101.\nAfter what happened last year, a buzz began concerning the possibility of the NCAA having a playoff in college football. A tournament in college football? I know that it doesn't seem to make much sense, but the possibility of being able to fill out yet another bracket with predictions is enough to excite even a Chicago Bears fan. For now, though, there are still no playoffs in college football and the odds of there ever being such a thing are slim to none.\nThat's why I look forward to March so much. There are no other crowds in the world like the ones found in Cameron Indoor Stadium, the Dean Smith Center or Assembly Hall (nice try Illinois fans, but I'm not talking about you), and the excitement of the tournament is overwhelming. Let's face it folks, college basketball is the only real basketball that fans can watch nowadays. The only thing the NBA can offer fans is a headache from all the whining and crying the players do. \nThe countdown has officially begun for me: March is only five months away. So while all of you are living it up in Cancun or some other exotic place, I'll be in paradise -- lying down with remote in hand watching my predictions fail me one after another.