NCAA Tournament<\/p>\n
There\u2019s something surreal about the men\u2019s NCAA basketball tournament. One of the great things about the tournament is the excitement created by the one and out format if you lose. The uncertainty creates a level thrilling basketball that\u2019s only found at the college level. Sixty-four teams will be competing to for a chance at the National Title. The teams can get to the tournament by means of two ways. The first way is to be highly ranked by a system called the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), which was formulated to help the NCAA basketball committee assemble and seed the teams for the tournament. The true selection process by the RPI is unknown but many former selection committee members have acknowledged that it is derived from three components including a team\u2019s winning percentage (25%), its opponent\u2019s winning percentage (50%), and its opponent\u2019s winning percentage (25%). The other possibility of going to the tournament is to win the conference tournament, which teams belong. For those teams who have little hope of getting an at-large bid by the RPI system, they have a chance at the NCAA tournament by winning their conference tournament. Teams all across the nation are scrambling at a shot for this prestigious tournament. The tournament itself is better known as \u201cMarch Madness.\u201d Sports analysts, commentators, and announcers\u2019 use of metaphoric terminology to help describe, explain, and illustrate why the men\u2019s NCAA basketball tournament is so highly prestigious.<\/p>\n
A metaphor allows one to describe a text so that it gives meaning and is understandable to others. Michael Osborn and Douglas Ehninger suggest that that a metaphor functions as a \u201ccommunicative stimulus that allows a user to identify an idea or object through a sign which generally denotes an entirely different idea or object. Metaphor also functions as a mental response because of the interaction between ideas suggested by the terms usual denotation and its special denotation in the particular context.\u201d Metaphors are critical in describing the event of the NCAA tournament and its importance.<\/p>\n
The tournament is generally referred to as \u201cThe Big Dance.\u201d This description of the tournament is widely used showing the importance of the event. There are many teams that would give anything to attend this so called \u201cBig Dance.\u201d This term in itself describes the prestige of a team going to the tournament. \u201cBig\u201d is officially known as great in size, and \u201cdance\u201d is officially known as moving one\u2019s body and feet in rhythm. Many sports writers and commentators use these terms when March rolls around. The \u201cBig Dance\u201d was used just as often as the NCAA tournament was used in my research. Dick Vital is one of the commentators who often uses these terms and uses them with extreme intensity stating, \u201cIt\u2019s that time of year fans, and here\u2019s who I like in the \u201cBig Dance…\u201d <\/p>\n
The pattern of these prestigious metaphors is also apparent in the different levels of the tournament bracket. Any team that advances two games into the tournament are immediately apart of what is normally called the \u201cSweet Sixteen.\u201d At this point in the tournament, a team has made it to either the West, Midwest, South, or East, semifinals, but \u201cSweet Sixteen\u201d is typically used as a more convincing term. The next round in the tournament is the separate divisional Championships. Most writers and commentators call this the \u201cElite Eight.\u201d Another advancement in the tournament would send you into the National Semifinals where only four teams remain. The National Semifinals are better known as the road to the \u201cFinal Four.\u201d The National Semifinals would be foreign to most people but the phrase \u201cFinal Four\u201d is widely common. A team would then advance to the National Championship after winning a \u201cFinal Four\u201d game. There have only been twelve teams in history to win two or more NCAA National Championship titles. UCLA leads with eleven titles, Kentucky with seven, Indiana with five, Duke with three, and North Carolina with three titles leading out the top five teams. The National Title is also known in the sports world as winning the \u201cCrown.\u201d These metaphors are highly known in the sports world including the \u201cSweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, Final Four, and the Crown.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next term that is widely used in the sports world describes a team who has had an average regular season and proceeded to upset a higher ranked team in their conference tournament. They try to ride that wave of momentum into the field of sixty-four and hope to upset another higher ranked team in the first and second rounds of the tournament to make it to the \u201cSweet Sixteen.\u201d These teams are commonly known as the \u201cCinderella\u201d teams. These teams typically don\u2019t make it farther than the \u201cSweet Sixteen\u201d where their season comes to an end. A perfect example of a \u201cCinderella\u201d team would be Gonzaga University. What Gonzaga did was give every other team in the West Coast Conference hope. To most of the college basketball world, it must seem as if Gonzaga magically busted onto the NCAA tournament scene out of nowhere. What Gonzaga accomplished was reaching the \u201cSweet Sixteen\u201d for the third straight season. Only the two other teams including Duke and Michigan State can say the same. This is why they are generally called \u201cCinderella\u201d teams. Since Gonzaga has accomplished this feat in the past three years, they are no longer called a \u201cCinderella\u201d team. If a team completes an upset during the first round but doesn\u2019t go on to win another game they\u2019re just called \u201cOne Hit Wonders.\u201d There are also many other metaphors describing this type of team which many people call \u201cDavid vs. Goliath\u201d success stories. Teams such as Duke or Michigan State are typically known as \u201cPowerhouse\u201d teams. They are called this because of their frequent appearances in the \u201cBig Dance.\u201d A \u201cDavid vs. Goliath\u201d success story is described when a smaller team such as Temple who had a seed of eleven beats a team such as Florida with a number three seed. Another example would come from last year\u2019s 2001 tournament when number two seeded North Carolina lost to number seven seeded Penn State to advance to the \u201cSweet Sixteen.\u201d<\/p>\n
In particular, I looked at the live coverage of the 2001 NCAA final four and all of its media coverage. There were three games that I researched including the two final four games that consisted of (Arizona versus Michigan State and Duke versus Maryland) and the National Championship game, which hosted Duke versus Arizona. One of the metaphors used to describe the tournament is war. Many commentators often refer to the NCAA tournament in a sense of comparing the competition to aspects of war. On the other hand, this terminology was in no means used in a negative context concerning events that have happened in the past or that are currently affecting us. They use this language of warfare to explain, define, illustrate, and compare the tournament with war. The games are typically referred to as battles. Holly Cross coach Ralph Willard claims, \u201cThis is do-or- die basketball for the so called mid-major schools. You have to be tough out there\u2026 Set tone and tempo from the start. Fight your way through screens, set good picks, block out strong, and battle on the floor for loose balls.\u201d This statement shows the level of intensity, which the games are being played. Players are also referred to as warriors out on the court. Shane Battier of the Duke blue devils discussing the tournament claimed, \u201cWe\u2019ll never wave the white flag\u2026 We have too much pride. We know what it\u2019s like to look into the eyes of a surrendering team.\u201d Battier was also described as a \u201cveteran\u201d of the Duke blue devils. This metaphor is used to describe a player who has played for a team for duration such as Battier has done for four years. Many players who have as much talent as Battier end up leaving college early to enter the NBA draft before they finish their college career. During the games of the final four of the 2001 NCAA tournament, many warlike connotations were used. First, Duke was referred to as an \u201cenemy\u201d of their opponent Arizona. This suggests somewhat of a rivalry between the two teams. They were the only two teams out of sixty-four to successfully win five straight games and make it to the National championship. Another term that was used was \u201cbombs.\u201d This terminology referred to Duke\u2019s Jason Williams \u201cdropping bombs\u201d which was used in the manner of him scoring several points consistently. He made four baskets in a row which could have also been taken as him \u201cshooting\u201d very well. Williams was also referred to as being a very \u201cexplosive\u201d player. This terminology was used to describe is quickness on the court to drive past his opponents. The use of \u2018attack\u201d was used many times to describe players getting rebounds and driving into the lane to score points. For example, Shane Battier was described as \u201cattacking the boards\u201d which means he was getting a lot of rebounds. There were many other terms used in describing the final four such as \u201cwar,\u201d \u201chero,\u201d and \u201cdefeat.\u201d These terms are all helpful in describing the tournament and basketball in general so that people can understand it better. <\/p>\n
Another typical use of metaphor terminology involves the use of fantasy and myth. The tournament is described as an event that is so prestigious the whole experience is said to be surreal. Many terms related to fantasy and myths are used to describe the tournament. First of all, as I stated earlier, teams that aren\u2019t expected to win are called Cinderella teams. These teams are typically called Cinderella teams because of the success story that was not supposed to have happened. These teams\u2019 success stories are related to the story of Cinderella (hence the name.) The \u201cDavid and Goliath\u201d success story is another use of metaphor typically describing an underhanded team that beats a more prestigious team in the NCAA tournament. Maryland was the only team who was described this way last year in the finals because they lost to Florida State (the worst team in the ACC) during their last regular season game. Once they were in the tournament, they beat the number one seeded Stanford in the West\u2019s final to advance to the final four while they were only ranked a number three seed in their division. The game was a \u201cDavid and Goliath\u201d match because Stanford was the number one seed in the West division. The tournament is also referred to as a \u201cdream\u201d for the players. There is only sixty-four teams that get a chance in the tournament and for those teams who win four straight games; they have made it into the \u201cfinal four\u201d best teams of the nation. Many references were made to the senior players that may or may not get a shot at the next level of the NBA. These players at least got to go out in style if they didn\u2019t have a chance in the draft. <\/p>\n
There were also many more metaphors used in covering the tournament that didn\u2019t fit into a specific \u201cbracket.\u201d One of these metaphors described the tournament as a \u201ccornucopia of basketball madness.\u201d This was a way of describing the number of games in which the tournament hosts or showing how so many different teams across the nation were involved in the tournament. The entire tournament is described more often by the two metaphors of \u201cMarch Madness, The Big Dance, and\/or March Mayhem.\u201d First, \u201cMarch Madness and March Mayhem\u201d describes the one and out style of the tournament if you lose. This puts pressure on the players and coaches because upsets are always bound to happen. \u201cThe Big Dance\u201d also describes the tournament\u2019s diversity where teams shuffle to gain spots no matter how they compare to the other team\u2019s strength. This reiterates the fact that so many teams are fighting for the same goal (The NCAA men\u2019s basketball championship.) <\/p>\n
Sports analysts, commentators, and announcers use of metaphoric terminology help to describe, explain, and illustrate the why the men\u2019s NCAA basketball tournament is so highly prestigious. Metaphoric categories of war-like and fantasy terminology help in showing why the tournament is so prestigious. The tournament coverage of CBS closes with David Barrett\u2019s piano preamble. The song is also shows how the \u201cthrill of victory and agony of defeat\u201d wraps up the tournament. The power of these metaphors exemplify why the tournament is so important to the players, coaches, and fans of colleges who get a chance to participate.<\/p>\n
Bibliography:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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