Time out!

I feel like I’m back in 7th grade thinking of excuses as to why I haven’t handed in my weekly composition. This blog has been blank for 2 1/2 weeks. What’s up Mr. Clermont?

Well, here are my lame excuses: a ten day working trip to El Salvador and San Francisco and the on-rushing NCAA March Madness basketball tournament. College basketball Championships Week [March 11 – 15] involved only 31 conferences playing over 400 games and many of them were televised.

In other words – I’ve taken a time out from writing.

Speaking of time out – the last few moments of a college basketball game these days can take 10 – 15 minutes. Coaches have perfected strategies for the final tense moments of close games. Each team can call several time outs and then add the mandatory “media” breaks for commercials if the game is on TV. In between players are fouling one another banking on the odds that a free throw is less likely to go in the basket than a dangerous 3 point shot from the perimeter. Games (the final few minutes) take forever.

Sports writer Mike Sorensen:

As far as I'm concerned, the glut of timeouts in college basketball is spoiling what is one of the best sporting events on earth. The players seem to do as much sitting as running in your average basketball game. These days you have a minimum of eight timeouts per game with the possibility of as many as 18 per game. In a 40-minute game, that's one every two minutes and 12 seconds of action.

Well, it’s just about time to turn on the TV and catch the first round of March Madness – time out or not.