Championship Tapas

Championship Week on ESPN, what a wonderful way to kick off March Madness. We get to see who’s in and who’s out. Who are the Cinderella teams, the sleepers and who has the best shot at winning it all. If the NCAA Tournament is the main course than Championship Week must be the Hors d'oeuvres.

Here’s the scenario that this can best be explained. You’re at a friends wedding, the happy couple has just been married and you and the rest of the non-wedding party are left to kill some time and enjoy some appetizers and spirits. Now this cocktail party will tell you everything you need to know about your upcoming dinner. If you stick to what is good, then you’re automatically excited for the Prime Rib you ordered. If you grab something bad, then you might feel like your Chicken Cordon Bleu could be doo-doo. The wedding dining tone can be set based on which starters you choose.

That got me to thinking which of the Hors d'oeuvre’s of Championship Week are the best. Which are the go-to and which are the no-goes.

Shrimp Cocktail - This is the staple of all cocktail parties. Everybody enjoys them, you feel like “Hey these guys went all out.” Plus, if you hear that another serving station there are some jumbo shrimp, tell me you aren’t heading within 3 minutes. You can’t keep away, can you?

On an entire sidebar, when I was in Vegas, a few years back. My friends, then girlfriend, now fiancee and I headed to a buffet on the strip. Now while I don’t remember which one we went to, (because we kept searching for the cheapest one possible - I know there is a $9.99 one around here somewhere!?! ), when we finally got there I was hungry and ready to put on a show. And I did!

I dominated the carving station. I put the pasta area in a world of hurt. Salad bar, shredded. You get the point. However, somehow I totally missed the shrimp. Feeling like my carnivore carnival wouldn’t be complete unless dug in on some shrimp I piled on a healthy dose of crustaceans and went to work. My friends didn’t think I could finish off this dinner plate full of shrimp, but, like UNC heading into Cameron Indoor Stadium I used it. Much to the amazement of my friends and mild disgust of my future fiancee, but, hey, she still said yes.

Big East - Simply the best. The Big East is perennially one of the best conferences. The games are tough, competitive and full of drama. Plus, playing in Madison Square Garden just makes it seem more important.
Highlight Moments: ’09 Connecticut - Syracuse 6 OT game, an instant classic. Gerry “Overrated” McNamara carrying the ’06 Syracuse team to a tourney title. ’96 Georgetown - Connecticut game; Ray Allen, Allen Iverson battle it out in this buzzer beater game.

ACC - Always a good showing, you can never go wrong. You know ESPN is going to be all over the coverage this so you’ll get great announcers. The conference is strong at the top and the fans travel to these games. The slight knock on this tourney is they keep playing the games in Atlanta and moving them around to other neighboring ACC school areas. They’d be better served it played in Charlotte or Greensboro. North Carolina is ACC country, not Georgia or any other place.
Highlight Moments: ’04 #6 seed Maryland beats Duke in OT 95-87 to win title. In, ‘95 Randolph Childress had one of the best three game runs - 107 points, 21 assists, 23-44 from 3-point land and made nine 3’s in the Championship, overtime, game.

The Cheese Platter - The Cheese Platter is about substance over style. It might not be the pinnacle of your appetizer experience, but you know you’ll never be led astray. You always know that Cheddar, Swiss and Provolone will be there, but sometimes you get pleasantly surprised with Brie or Gruyère or maybe, just maybe, some Havarti.

SEC - This conference has a long history of basketball dominance, but, of late, has been regarded for its football play than its basketball. As league once dominated by Kentucky, now is showing signs of other powerhouses. Since ’91 the SEC has consistently put four teams into the NCAA tournament. Pretty good for a football conference.
Highlight Moment: ’08 Georgia team had to play four games in three days, because of a tornado. They had to play the 2nd round game (which went into OT) and semifinal game on the same day, going on to win the SEC against Arkansas. Oh, and did I mention they were 4-12 in conference play with a sub-.500 record to start the tourney. Amazing.

Big 12 - Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma are the big 3 in the Big 12. Sprinkle in the up and coming Missouri, Baylor and Texas A&M and you’ve got yourself a solid basketball conference. Plus, this conference has some of the best young coaches in Scot Drew, Jeff Capel, Travis Ford and Bill Self.
Highlight Moment: ’08 Kansas beats Texas, 88-84, in OT. Kevin Durant named M.O.P in a losing effort, first time in Big 12 history, with 37 points, 10 rebounds and 5 steals.

Cocktail Franks - Here’s the thing about Cocktail Franks, they get a bad rap because everyone thinks their white trash and they lack a certain panache to be served at a cocktail party. Well those people would be wrong, Cocktail Franks are delicious. Also, party goers are nervous to be deemed “White Trash” if they are seen eating pigs-in-a-blanket and the whole tray gets hit with the They-must-not-be-good stigma for the rest of the party. So let your inner JimBob fly and enjoy these dirty little secret tourneys.

A-10 - One of the best little conferences, no one seems to talk about. It’s blue collar, tough basketball with a lot of kids who were never recruited by any high-major schools, but develop at this mid-major level into solid talent. Factor in the rivalries of Dayton and Xavier; Saint Joseph’s and Temple, who are both part of the Philadelphia Big 5, which adds extra heat to the conference.
Highlight Moments: ’99 Lamar Odom cans a buzzer beater 3 to lead Rhode Island to a title win over Temple. ’04 Xavier upsets undefeated #1 ranked Saint Joseph’s (which had NBAers Jameer Nelson and Delonte West).

Horizon League - This Rust Belt conference has been a pleasant surprise and consistently sending bracket busting teams to the NCAA tournament. Butler and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee have combined for three visits to the Sweet 16 in the last six years. This league is filled with scrappy players who you can’t help but root for, like Mike Green, DaShaun Wood, Ed McCants and Sports PAD favorite AJ Graves.
Highlight Moments: ’07 Wright St. beats Butler 60-55. AJ Graves’ unibrow, otherwise known as the Butler Bulldogs 6th Man.

Bruschetta with Tomatoes - This is your classic Trap App, you’ve had it before, on a small scale, either at a friend’s house or dinner at a restaurant, but when you get to a wedding reception or a cocktail party, it’s bad news. The tomatoes lack flavor, the bread has become soggy because of too much olive oil or sometimes they just use a thick cracker which always crumbles after the first bite. And there is always some guy who has to over pronunciate bruschetta just so you that he knows how to pronounce it. Have you had the brusˈketta? Brusˈketta! I love brusˈketta. I’ve had brusˈketta in Ihtahlee.

Big Ten - The Big Ten really has some boring basketball, unless you have a vested interest in it, like the Sports PAD does (I’m a huge University of Michigan Fan) there is nothing that draws you in. It’s physical, half-court, low scoring affairs that often leave a bad taste in your mouth.
Highlight Moment: ’00 Michigan State’s Flintstones; Charlie Bell, Antonio Smith, Morris Peterson and Mateen Cleaves.

Pac-10 - This conference always gets more credit than it deserves, partly because of the dominance of UCLA and Arizona. Plus this conference tourney is not as historic as you may think? The Pac-10 had a tourney from ‘87-’90 and then took a twelve year hiatus, picking back up in 2002. Not what you would have thought. Up until the last two years the games have been relatively lackluster.
Highlight Moment: Darren Collison’s 28 points leading #3 UCLA beat #11 Stanford.

Breadsticks - Now, I’m not talking about the pillowy bread breadsticks, that with a side of marinara could be a meal all on its own. I’m talking about the thin, cracker breadstick that’s only good for two things: making “Walrus face” and nibbling on them while you get stood up for a date. (Not that that has ever happened to the Sports PAD)

West Coast Conference - They gave us Gonzaga and the foundation of the Cinderella story, but Gonzaga’s won 10 (of 15) WCC tourney’s since ’95. No other teams have challenged, you can pretty much pencil in Gonzaga as the winner. Plus, 4 out of the last 9 WCC finals are held at the Jenny Craig Pavilion, you can’t have the Valerie Bertinelli MOP award.
Highlight Moment: Adam Morrison’s Mustache?

Conference USA - They’ve lost all of their top teams to the Big East (Marquette, Louisville, DePaul and Cincinnati) and left Memphis to be perennially favorites. Memphis faces no real competition and hasn’t lost a conference game since 2006. To make matters worse they play the tournament championship game in the FedExForum, which is located in Memphis, Tennessee.
Highlight Moment: Nothing.