Old joke: a reporter and editor are stranded in the desert. They're dying of thirst, exposure, etc. Finally they come to an oasis with a sparkling pool of water.
The reporter drops to his hands and knees and begins drinking greedily. But when he looks up, he's horrified to see the editor urinating in the water.
"What in God's name are you doing?!" he yells.
"Making it better," replies the editor.
Which brings us to today's question, bar-flies: Should they really be messing with the NCAA men's basketball tournament?
Isn't this about the most perfect post-season tournament around? But now there's talk that the NCAA wants to expand the field from 65 to 96 teams, generating even more millions of dollars for themselves and whatever network gets to cover the tourney.
What's prompting all this is that the NCAA's contract with CBS is over after this year's Final Four. And a new TV deal with an expanded field has college sports governing body seeing green and thinking: ka-ching!
But does anyone really want to see the top 32 seeds getting a bye and the tournament dragging on for another week? And wouldn't expansion cheapen the value of the regular season even more, with so many lesser teams now able to make the tourney?
Or do you think expansion would just double the excitement and that we here at Connolly's should just shut up and stick to pouring drinks?
If so, you just might make a great editor.
Daily Think Special: Should the NCAA Tournament expand?