Welcome to the sporting calendar sweet spot.
There are plenty of gripping periods of time throughout the sports year, but the first Thursday and Friday of the men’s NCAA Tournament kicks off by far my favorite viewing stretch annually — with MLB Opening Day for the Mets and the Yankees right around the corner and the NBA/NHL playoffs to follow.
With 32 men’s college hoops games on the docket over these next two days — and potentially a slew of David-slaying-Goliath upsets — I have grown to prefer the Big Dance to the World Series or even the Super Bowl.
I have covered plenty of big events in more than 30 years as a sportswriter with the New York tabloids. But as always, I am looking forward to working the next few days at Barclays Center, with UConn, the defending national champs, and Duke among the blue bloods on this side of the East Region bracket. There also will be one of last year’s Final Four Cinderella squads in Florida Atlantic, plus capable upstarts such as James Madison, Vermont and Stetson.
