Some things in sports don't make any sense. A fly ball hits the "foul" pole in baseball but it's actually fair. They'll never get around to renaming it, but they probably should.  Penalty kicks in soccer are intentionally set up from what appears to be about 10 feet away. It seems accidental when a goalie actually stops one. The two-minute warning in football? Don't get me started. The team that's losing late in a game gets rewarded for it. You can also include the 64/65 play-in game of the NCAA basketball tournament as another thing that I just don't get.

For starters, I saw nothing wrong with a true field of 64 tournament teams in the first place. Sounds like a nice even number to me. At the moment I believe there are 31 automatic bids given to conference champions across America. That obviously means there are 34 other berths awarded, based on the subjective opinions of the selection committee.  Quite honestly, if you are the 34th best team out of the leftovers, I think the tournament could probably do without you. Rather than having the 7th or 8th best team from a super power such as the Big East Conference get in, let the real Cinderella teams get their chance to be the first 16 seed to ever upset a top dog. It's not as though the last at-large team chosen has ever won the whole enchilada anyway.

Even though these young college athletes should be quite excited to participate in the tournament at all, there must be some feeling of embarrassment at being part of the play-in game. It's akin to the last two guys chosen for a pick-up game in any sport. Yeah, they'll play, but they've just been called out as the weakest in the bunch. Unifying? Perhaps. Insulting? Definitely.

Why single them out and mock the accomplishment of winning their conference tournament? Can you imagine the letdown and disappointment of being the team that loses this stigmatizing contest? Let them have their shot against one of the big boys. That's what the world really wants to see anyway. How much more glorious and sweeter would defeat taste if it valiantly came at the hands of a foe such as Florida or Ohio State? It would be a bit more palatable to say the least. Instead, the fallen get to go home feeling as though they couldn't even beat the likes of I-C-U-P Tech or Westeastern State.  Yeah I'm being sarcastic, but this game is the epitome of a backhanded compliment. "Here's your invitation to the big dance guys...but ummm... not exactly". This is probably the worst intentional gyp job in sports.

If the NCAA wants to really screw around with things, then dole out 3 more invitations to "legitimate" teams from prestigious conferences for a field of 68. Then have the 8 lowest ranked clubs square off during 4 play-in games. Misery loves company or so they say. In all honesty I think I'd prefer this anyway. Rather than singling out one school for humiliation, the privilege of trying to take down a one seed can become something that must be earned by ALL four  #16 seeds. Why stop at calling out two schools for having little to no shot at doing anything in the tournament, when we can have eight?

I've even heard some debate about expanding the fiesta to a field of 128.  The fact that there are now so many D1 conferences and schools, with perhaps more on the way, is a valid point. Factor in the undeniable truth that many high quality, mid-major programs are competitive with any school in the land, and a person just could make a legitimate case for mega-brackets. All it really amounts to is one more round of games. Why the heck not? If you're a bubble team that doesn't make this tournament, then you really don't have any legitimate gripes.