Since it’s that obvious anyway.

Arguably the greatest three weeks in sports are upon us with the 2010 March madness bracket tournament tipping off. And of course Bodog will have everything a basketball bettor could ever need.

Yes, it’s that time of year when even the most amateur sports fan becomes an expert in basketball with the men’s NCAA tournament here. From the play-in game through the 2010 NCAA Final Four in Indianapolis, Bodog will have it all covered with basketball news, odds, contests and more.

That’s right, the road to the Final Four runs through Bodog and you won’t find any gaming site with as many basketball betting options on the NCAA tournament than those guys. They’ve been doing this for 15 years and they should already know what bettors want when it comes to the Big Dance. From odds to news to brackets, you’ll find it all at Bodog.

This year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament appears to be one of the most wide-open tourneys in recent year, and that could be good news for those basketball bettors. While the North Carolina Tar Heels were huge favorites going into last year’s Big Dance and came home with the title, the Heels are not even in the field this year.

The Kansas Jayhawks, the Kentucky Wildcats, the Syracuse Orange and the Duke Blue Devils are your four No.1 seeds in the bracket this year, but none of those four could be considered a lock Final Four team.

Last year’s tournament was very chalk, as for the first time since seeding began, all 12 teams seeded No.3 or better made it to the Sweet 16, and three No.1 seeds reached the Elite Eight for the third straight year.

There are probably about 20 or so teams that have a real shot at…

In case you forgot what ”George Mason” meant, it’s the entity that destroyed your brackets after it went all the way to the NCAA Final Four.

And with merely a few more days before the 2008 March Madness bracket tournament begin, we found it fitting to write about them George Mason Patriots again. And NO… It has nothing to do with us liking this team that bares a similar name, the New England Patriots…

The George Mason Patriots shocked the rest of the world, LITERALLY, in 2006 when they went all the way to the NCAA Final Four. Although they fell flat on their faces when they went up against the Florida Gators that year, their Final Four stint instantly let them become ‘’superstars” of their own campus.

This year though, the George Mason Patriots are 20-9 and are ranked 72nd. As expected, all that fanfare they generated a couple of years ago died down a bit and for some reason, this particular Patriot, one of two remaining starters from the fabled George Mason Final Four team, likes it just the way it is.

Patriots forward Will Thomas, two years ago, would always have a pen beside his plate ready to sign autographs whenever he dines at the campus cafeteria for the fans their team generated in 2006.

Two years later, he’s happy that everything is back to ”normal.”

”This year it calmed down,” Will Thomas said. ”You can enjoy your meal, sit there and talk, just hang out a little bit longer.”

”It might sound weird, but we still have the energy and the…”

After weeks and weeks of anticipation, the 2007 NCAA College Basketball national championship will finally be decided.

Yep, the entire field of 65 in the 2007 March Madness bracket tournament was chopped down and reduced to the Sweet 16, the Elite Eight, the Final Four and finally, to the TWO TEAMS that will compete for the biggest prize in all of college hoops.

And yep, the legendary Dick Vitale will definitely go ga-ga over this one on Monday as the Florida Gators and the Ohio State Buckeyes play for the 2007 NCAA College Basketball national championship in a rematch of the BCS title game.

As for me, I’m still grieving about the North Carolina Tar Heels not making it this year after a strong start in the regular season as well as in the 2007 March Madness tournament but hey, I guess there’s always next season.

Oh yeah, the final two teams that will play for the 2007 NCAA College Basketball national title will have a highly-contested game for sure. Of course, with the remaining two teams being highly-ranked, this game will definitely be the battle of the best.

”We had great parity throughout the tournament and the seeds held up,” said Thomas O’Connor, the athletic director of the George Mason Patriots. ”There’s nothing magical about it. That’s what makes college basketball a fantastic game. In any given year, you have situations like what occurred last year with us, and then you have what’s happening this year.”

So without further delay, here are the two remaining teams that will meet in the…

Yep, the Madness in March is officially gone.

Of course, with the North Carolina Tar Heels already gone and out of the 2007 March Madness bracket tournament, what is there left to watch? Well, if you’re still going ga-ga over this annual college hoops spectacle, here are a couple of reasons why you shouldn’t and just wait for the next NFL Football season in September.

The MADNESS is GONE. This is the first time since 1993 that we have NCAA Final Four teams whose seeds don’t go below No.2. Yep, with top seeded teams Florida Gators and Ohio State Buckeyes going up against No.2 seeded clubs like the UCLA Bruins and the Georgetown Hoyas, this batch of the Final Four could very well be a little more predictable than usual.

”We had great parity throughout the tournament and the seeds held up,” said Thomas O’Connor, the athletic director of the George Mason Patriots. ”There’s nothing magical about it. That’s what makes college basketball a fantastic game. In any given year, you have situations like what occurred last year with us, and then you have what’s happening this year.”

You know, I wouldn’t normally agree with morons like this one but with no sign of the light blue North Carolina, I guess I would have to.

”When they seeded this thing, they hit it right on the nail,” Memphis Tigers head coach John Calipari said of the 10-member…

So the Elite Eight of the 2007 March Madness bracket battles are finally here. Now what?

The March Madness bracket tournament has been around for quite some time now and for those of you new to this annual spectacle of NCAA College Basketball, George Mason’s improbable march in last year’s bracket battles is perhaps the single-most significant event you’ll remember.

Aside from George Mason’s Cinderella season last year, there are quite a handful of feel-good stories the March Madness bracket brought to the table. And no, the way Tyler Hansbrough of the North Carolina Tar Heels cried like a bitch after getting popped in the nose is not one of those.

In 1983, watching Jimmy Valvano celebrate after his North Carolina State Wolfpack shock Houston was something. Sidney Lowe led the Wolfpack, letting Valvano parade around the hardwood in a strange gay-like hugging mood. Yep, it was special and somewhat scary at the same time too.

Sidney Lowe is the current mentor of the North Carolina State Wolfpack.

In 1985, the Kansas Jayhawks, the same basketball program included in the ”big four” of the 2007 March Madness bracket battles, proved just how much the crowd can play in the outcome of a basketball game. Hell, they proved just how much the crowd can motivate them towards a title.

Or in this case, prove just how much a crowd in an NCAA College Basketball game piss a team off so hard, that they’ll play twice as hard just to get back at the crowd.

Larry Brown’s Kansas Jayhawks were 12-8 at one point and heard chants of ”NIT, NIT.” However, Danny Manning must not have been listening as he put the Jayhawks on his back and led them to the title. Yep, the Jayhawks sure have a lot of them success stories already before making it to the…

Ohmigod… The first casualty of the 2007 March Madness bracket battles has been passed as the powerhouse team of Duke took an early exit.

Yep, the Duke Blue Devils bowed out of the 2007 March Madness bracket tournament early, losing to the upstart team of the Virginia Commonwealth Rams in the first round of this year’s march for the national title.

It was a shocking turn of events as VCU guard Eric Maynor hit a 15-foot jumper with 1.8 seconds remaining to give his team the upset win over the Duke Blue Devils, 79-77. Ouch.

That means we will be denied of another rivalry game between these Devils and the North Carolina Tar Heels in the 2007 March Madness bracket tournament. (Boo!) Although I must admit, I’m okay with Duke out of the tournament early, it’s just that, it’s sad that Tyler Hansbrough would have to wait for next season to pop a Duke Blue Devil’s nose.

For the rest of you crying like a baby with Duke gone and out of the tournament, DEAL WITH IT! Ha-ha! Duke sucks anyway.

So, with this huge win for the VCU Rams, are they THE TEAM destined to have a Cinderella story in the tournament this year? Can these guys march all the way to the 2007 NCAA Final Four?

Hmm… Well, they did beat last year’s Cinderella boys… (That’s not too manly now was it?..) beating the George Mason Patriots with yet another upset victory, 65-59, to deny George Mason a trip to the brackets this year. Who knew that these VCU Rams will go on and shock Duke a few days after shocking George Mason?

Eric Maynor finished the game with 22 points, six of those were inside the final 1:24, including that fateful 15-foot…

Ever wonder why this annual NCAA College Basketball tournament generate this much attention?

Is it because of this so-called school spirit? Is it because 65 NCAA College Basketball teams are all looking to become champions? Is it because any team can go all the way and surprise any powerhouse club in the 65-team March Madness bracket tournament?

Hmm… Maybe it’s because it’s the ONLY tournament happening in March that’s worth watching. Yep, that’s it. March has been always about college basketball and this year is no different as the 2007 March Madness bracket battles rages on.

And yeah, this thing has the irritating but entertaining Dick Vitale too, and yes, the guy actually breathes college hoops.

”I love the World Series and the Super Bowl and all the other special events. But let’s face it, nothing gets fans fired up more than watching all the Davids trying to topple the Goliaths,” Dick Vitale said.

”You just have to look at last year’s tournament to know that is true. How dramatic was it to watch George Mason University of the Colonial Athletic Association capture the hearts and minds of hoop-aholics?”

Hoop-aholics? You just know we ain’t goin’ to use much of this terminlogy in the future.

As of press time, the big four in this year’s March Madness bracket wars are led by the defending…

The seedings are complete, the pressure is on, it’s time to do your best ”Mad Dog” Mark Madsen impersonations this March.

Yep, the 2007 March Madness bracket is finally complete as the defending NCAA College Basketball champions, Florida Gators, bagged the overall No.1 seed for this year’s biggest sports tournament to date.

Despite all their troubles heading to the tournament, March is still Florida’s bitch, and with March here, the Gators have all of a sudden, played just good enough to earn the March Madness bracket’s top spot.

The Field of 65 was finalized Sunday as the North Carolina Tar Heels, the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Kansas Jayhawks join the defending champions, Gators, at the top, each earning No.1 seeds after winning their respective conference championships.

The Florida Gators, believe it or not, received the overall No.1 seed in the tournament for the very first time despite being ranked as low as No.6 before the SEC Conference championship game. The Gators will be the No.1 seeded team to beat in the Midwest bracket this season.

I don’t know how the heck these guys did it (I guess that has something to do with them winning the SEC Championship…) but I guess they just proved just how much they own the month of March.

The North Carolina Tar Heels bagged the No.1 seed after winning the ACC Conference championship for the first time since 1998. (Go Heels!) It was an all-North Carolina…

Aw… crap… Did you knew we were that close to having all that all over again this year?

Yep, the George Mason Patriots ALMOST won their way towards a March Madness bracket spot this year. They were THAT close to having a chance of a repeat of their Cinderella story last season.

65-59. Ouch. They were only six points behind. The Patriots were only six points shy of a Cinderella dance, how cruel is that? The Virginia Commonwealth Rams ended George Mason’s bid for an encore performance this season after becoming hot property in the March Madness bracket battles last year.

Eric Maynor made two big steals in a row and scored nine straight points down the stretch, sending the top-seeded Virginia Commonwealth Rams to the NCAA March Madness bracket tournament with a 65-59 victory in the Colonial Athletic Association championship game Monday night.

Just like last season, George Mason were the underdogs coming to this CAA Championship game, just like the last time we saw these guys all over ESPN last year. This time though, they didn’t have the talented crop of athletes they had last season, when they beat powerhouse teams like North Carolina, Connecticut and Michigan State to earn an entry to the NCAA Final Four.

After losing several key players from last year’s team, George Mason made another improbable push this postseason, winning three games in three days as the No.6 seed in the CAA tourney. But the ride finally ended when the Patriots squandered a five-point lead in the last 2 minutes against…

Well, that is if the respective home teams can make it anyway.

March Madness, yep, it’s that time of the year when the top college basketball teams of the nation get together to decide who will win the national championship.

BUT, whoever comes out of March Madness with the trophy is not necessarily the best since teams can upset stronger teams from time to time. Of course we ALMOST saw that last year when George Mason just kept on winning. Scary.

So how do these teams do it? How can you upset a stronger team like Duke or UNC?

Of course, you have to score more points than them, and yep, you must have an intimidating turf to hound these teams whenever they come out to play on your yard.

And on THAT note, here are some homecourts that are just tough to play on. Always has and always will be.

Cameron Indoor Stadium. Home of the quite irritating Duke Blue Devils. Cameron Indoor Stadium has a capacity of a little more than 9,300 but the intense atmosphere created by an active student body makes up for it. Heck, the student section surrounds the goddamn court so you can just imagine how tough it is to…