Photograph by Kevin Scheller
Believe me, I want to root for VCU or Butler as much as the next guy. I want to watch the underdog win a tournament that, for all the hype, is almost always won by one of the top eight teams.
But I can't. Blame the 2004 Cardinals. Or—and I like this idea more—blame the 2004 Red Sox, the team so plucky and perfect that it got Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore out onto the Busch Stadium field after my four least favorite baseball games of all time. The team that launched a million Boston-centric personal memoirs.
The thing people forget about the underdog is just how great it is to be one. VCU and Butler came in with no expectations on their shoulders, and no shame in defeat. They're already honorary Hoosiers; they could be blown out in the 2011 national championship and sportswriters will still spin great American yarns about stick-to-itiveness and guts.
For whoever wins in the overdog bracket, such as it is, no such luck. Kentucky and UConn, like the 2004 Cardinals, are themselves a great story—disproportionately few tournament wins occur outside the top two seeds. The Cardinals weren't the Red Sox for outsized fan pain, but they did come out of nowhere to put together a 105-win season, and they had come off one of the best NLCS victories in recent baseball memory.
So good luck, VCU, and best wishes, Butler. But my favorite Cardinals team ever wasn't the 2006 squad that won on accident—it was that impossibly talented, improbably healthy 2004 team. So godspeed, Kentucky, and mazel tov, UConn.
