Bring back the consolation game?
There hasn't been a consolation game since before there was a 3-point line in college basketball, and even before then, there was a women's basketball tournament. There's a good reason for this: the consolation game doesn't sell. Sure, it's kind of fun to watch if your school is playing, but no one else cares. Most fans won't even sit and stay for both Final Four games, much less spend an extra two hours on the day of the championship game watching a meaningless game.
The consolation game goes against all of what sports are about. Sport prepares people for life. It teaches its participants to win gracefully and to accept defeat. The NCAA Tournament, just like all single elimination tournaments, brings out the best in athletes because both teams know that if they lose, they will be sent home.
That's what makes this time of year so exciting for college basketball players and fans alike. Each successive round gets more exciting as better and better teams meet. In this sense, the consolation game is anti-climatic, as it features two teams that are playing for absolutely nothing.
When a team has nothing to lose, it also has nothing to win. How do you expect to see a hard fought game if nothing is to come out of it? The competition in consolation games is about as tough as that of mid-season All-Star games. Not even the "it's your final game" bit will spark a rivalry between two teams that probably haven't played each other all season. Why keep these student-athletes out of class for one more game that will have no bearing on their season or careers?
The only major professional sporting tournament to have a consolation game is the World Cup. Even the most popular sport in the world can't hold a big audience for a consolation game. Can anyone name the winner of last year's third place game? It was Turkey, by the way. This win provided little consolation, however, as only one team gets to hold high the hallowed cup.
And only one team gets to cut down the net at the end of the NCAA tournament. If the consolation game did come back, and the winner of that game cut down the net, or even celebrated wildly, the tournament will have come to a new low. Let's face it, winning the NIT would be more exciting than winning third place in the NCAA tournament.
Bringing back the consolation game would be a bigger joke than the UConn football ticket prices. It's better off being a distant and fading memory.
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