Why Do We Love March Madness So Much?

by Kevin Burton   In the bad old days, being without a girlfriend, or a date, or even a prayer, on Valentine’s Day was a sharp searing pain to the psyche.    Now by comparison, being without a basketball team for the big dance, or even the little dance, is a dull ache. March Madness is …

SI: North Carolina’s NIT Decision Was Lame

by Kevin Burton    North Carolina head basketball coach Hubert Davis, hurting after his team coughed up a 16-point lead and the NCAA tournament final to Kansas last April, nevertheless had gracious words for his players.    “I can’t be more proud of the group that I just coached this year,” Davis said in a …

Hey Baseball, Get Off My Lawn!

by Kevin Burton    The seasons are changing, calendar and sports calendar; the time is changing (spring forward Saturday night, kids), too much is changing.    Any number of poets have rhapsodized about the beginning of spring and all it symbolizes. OK, I’m good with that. But as a sports guy in the man cave, …

Goodtime Shockers Got The Blues

by Kevin Burton    Hope to be wrong on this, but….    It appears to be over for Wichita State.    The Little Program That Could, could compete in a small conference, but still have a senior class graduate having won nine NCAA tournament games – nine happy NCAA press conferences – now can’t even …

A Few Words For March Madness Fans

by Kevin Burton    You hear the word “hoops” what comes to mind?    Are you thinking earrings? Are you thinking bureaucracy, extra obstacles you have to jump through? Or are you thinking basketball?    No right answer to this, we try to appeal to all types of readers here. But for me, it’s basketball. …

March Madness Best Spectacle In Sports

by Kevin Burton    You know how you sometimes smell something that might be smoke?    You’re pretty sure it isn’t but you have to check it out. Where there’s smoke there’s fire. That would be a bad thing. Better find out.    I feel a little bit like that now. It’s March Madness time …

Sports Hate Is A Thing, But What Is It?

by Kevin Burton    My mother used to get on me for saying I “hated’ certain sports figures or teams. She wanted me to say instead that I didn’t appreciate this or that about them.   Well OK, call it sports hate then.    When I say I love my wife and I also love …

More Hoops Notes: Midtgaard Comes Alive

by Kevin Burton    Wow, shame on me!    I did a story about the players who left Wichita State’s basketball program after last year (“Ex-Shockers Prospering With New Teams,” Feb. 7) and didn’t even mention Asbjorn Midtgaard.    He averaged just 2.7 points and 2.6 rebounds per game in his three seasons at WSU. …

NCAA Marching On Despite The Virus

by Kevin Burton      The virus became real for me at March Madness time last year.     I went to work having heard that the NCAA had cancelled all the conference post-season basketball tournaments.  In my heart, I knew that by the time I got home the big tournament would be cancelled.     And so …