a method to march madness
Reviewed by Derek Catsam, University of Texas of the Permian Basin
OCTOBER 23, 2006 archive
A Tour Guide to March Madness
In an era of modern sporting spectacle in which bigger is better and excess is routine, March Madness is the quintessential sporting event. The true madness of the opening weekend, which begins on Thursday and must measurably diminish American productivity, gives way to the Sweet Sixteen, which quickly narrows to the Elite Eight, culminating in the mother of all alliterative pairings, at least in sporting terms: The Final Four.
Whether through savvy marketing, transitions in American culture, the rise in popularity of basketball, or a combination of these factors, the NCAA's season-culminating tournament has seen a meteoric rise in the sporting consciousness. What was once not even the premiere event in its own sporting firmament (that honor, believe it or not, went to the National Invitational Tournament, or the NIT, which is now best known for being a consolation prize-cum-sluice pit for those teams that end up on the wrong side of the much-ballyhooed "bubble" as well as for marginal slurry from major conferences, disgruntled Mid-Majors, and second-place sub-mid-majors) is now not only the unquestioned highlight of the college athletic calendar, but for many Americans marks the best sporting event of them all.
In A Method to March Madness, CJ Jones serves as the ideal tour guide. A former college player, assistant (and for a short time head-) coach, and now athletic director, all at decidedly mid-major central Connecticut State University, Jones has experienced the Final Four and its myriad changes for more than three decades. Far from being an impediment, Jones' experiences in the mid-majors is an enormous asset to him as he carries his readers through not only the changes that have occurred since the early 1970s when "March Madness" and "Final Four" were but a gleam in an advertising hustler's eye, but also through the various behind-the-scenes machinations of what has become an increasingly complex, immense, and money-driven undertaking. Jones works with CCSU professor Tom Hazuka, who teaches English and fiction writing, but make no mistake about it: It is Jones' voice that rings through A Method to March Madness.
One can almost discern the sort of coach that Jones was and the kind of man that he is: avuncular, friendly, and well-regarded. If the corny asides and silly jokes that pervade the text are any indication, Jones, like so many coaches, has been single-handedly responsible for the rolling of a billion student-athlete eyeballs. But those eyes rolled affectionately in their sockets, for his charges surely knew that beyond the corniness was a great deal of wisdom. Jones loves basketball. He loves March Madness. And his passion is contagious.
A Method progresses thematically, with Jones addressing such issues as the changing venues for the Final Four: the All Lobby Team of coaches who go to be seen as much as to see and for whom the networking never stops, but the manifestation of which has changed, and as with so many aspects of the bigger and more brazen event of today, not always for the better; The ongoing job search that underlies the tournament every year; the actual work of a coach once he has that job; changing fashions (and racial views) among the players; the ubiquitous issue of money; and Jones' all time-favorite tournament games. The longest section of the book contains "Insider stories" from well more than two-dozen coaches and players from all levels, from Division III to the biggest names in the sport, such as Dean Smith and Jim Calhoun (who also contributes a perfunctory foreword), as well as from administrators, and even pep band members, regular fans, and his wife, who professes her own love for the game and its biggest event.
Almost every page is peppered with "Final Four Facts," tidbits of trivia, ephemera, quirkiness, and sometimes telling information interspersed in gray boxes throughout the book. Some of these facts deal with trivia on players and performances, changes in the scale and scope of the event over time, and general miscellany. Jones also includes several pages of photographs that come from his own personal collection. Each chapter is headed by a picture of a ticket stub from one of the many Final Fours Jones has attended.
Though a work neither of scholarship nor literature, A Method to March Madness is nonetheless an enjoyable book that any fan of college basketball will enjoy. It provides an insider's view from someone who has spent many years inside the system, yet who as a denizen of the mid-majors is enough of a common fan to be able to provide critical distance from some of the changes to the Final Four while at the same time maintaining his love for the game and his desire to share it with as many people as possible.
C. J. Jones and Tom Hazuka, A Method to March Madness: An Insider's Look at the Final Four With a Foreword by Jim Calhoun. (Lafayette, CO: Moonlight Press, 2006) v + 218 pp. Illustrations. $16.95, (paper) ISBN: 0-9723422-8-1
Copyright © 2006 by Derek Catsam.