George Mason Madness

Of course you did not have George Mason in the Final Four. So what? You love March and you love this type of story, don't you? If I hear one more TV commentator or sports pundit reference to the against-all-odds sports flick "Hoosiers," I'm going to fly out to Hollywood (or wherever he lives) and personally burn his house down.

But admit it, you gotta love it. Yes, you lost your office pool when George Mason shocked top-seeded UConn. The NCAA would tell you shouldn't be gambling on college kids anyway (Yeah, right - the fact that certain teams can lose high seeds because they may have an injured player robs them of a terrific season's worth of work - Re: 2000's Kenyon Martin's Cincinnati Bearcats team, which was given a 2-seed because the committee didn't think it deserved a top seed after losing it's star player, despite a season's worth of success and hard work. That is proof-positive the NCAA is interested in handicapping games and feeding the gambling beast.)

Anyway, George Mason, the smaller, under-funded and the out-resourced team sticks it to three basketball powerhouses - Michigan State, North Carolina and Connecticut - who have won four of the last seven basketball championships. Those schools, like a lot of others in this tournament (Examples: Kansas and Pittsburgh being humbled by Bradley, Iowa being shocked by little Northwestern State, and others) who expects to be better just because of the history, prestige and their status in the world. But now, with George Mason crashing the NCAA party, they are the talk and the toast of Final Four. This year, certainly the little guy - the Davids if you will - gain the respect of the Goliaths. And America loves them. America pulls for the little guy.

So why isn't there the same celebratory spirit when it comes to affirmative action? The tournament is proof positive that affirmative action can work. These little schools are getting in thanks to a selection process that takes a look at their full body of work - not just their won/lost record and tradition - to give them a spot in the tournament. And all these little schools want is a chance to play. Once they get in the tournament, they still must perform on the court. And very often, they perform admirably.

Due to the current political climate, we seem to have ignored the affirmative action conversation. Especially amid the incessant hubbub of Iraqi insurgents, personal social security accounts, and - absurdly - missing white women. No, not to sound racist here (probably too late), but you notice the tizzy this country gets in when there is a white woman missing? Last year, the tragic fate of invalid Terry Schiavo literally prompted an act of Congress. Later, the Natalie Holloway disappearance in Aruba would grab the media attention for months. Meanwhile, blacks, Hispanics and the like have people go missing all of the time, yet they haven't received an nth of the attention served to Holloway or Schiavo. (Here's a thought: If the people of New Orleans were all white women - or maybe even well-to-do, politically-connected, affluent white women, then something tells me the reaction to the flooding of the nation's then-33rd largest city would have been more expedient. In fact, I am certain a then nonchalant President Bush would have perked up upon hearing that rich white women were in peril, and then would have decided to build a special team of Autobots and Decepticons - yes, Transformers - to come in and rescue all of those people in peril. And I bet it wouldn't have taken four days to do it. Sorry for the tangent. Let's get back to the tournament.

America loves to champion an underdog. You had to smile when you saw the small Missouri Valley Conference team like Bradley toppled traditional powerhouse Kansas, the old stomping grounds of James Naismith, who, by the way, "invented basketball". And years of upstart tournament basketball play has afforded once small-time basketball school like Gonzaga with all of the accoutrements - the money, recruits and the notoriety -- of the big boys.

And then there is Villanova's upset of mighty Georgetown two decades ago. That is celebrated as one of the greatest moments (and upsets) in tournament history. The point is America champions her underdog with vigor and enthusiasm.

Until it comes to affirmative action.

This black kid from a poor school in the inner city shouldn't be allowed to go the big state-funded school as opposed to a white-bread kid from a plushy accommodated school from the 'burbs. Or that woman has no place on the board of directors over this white guy who's a member of the Good Ol' Boys club. Who do these people think they are? Right? "Wrong".

Here's to the little guy like George Mason not just getting their foot in the door, but kicking a little tail while doing it.

Before you go, here's a little history less on George Mason. Mason was a delegate to Constitutional Convention in 1787. He refused to sign the Constitution because it didn't have a Bill of Rights nor did it abolish slavery. He also said the document had given Congress too much power over the states, and he feared the presidency, if the office is abused in a certain way, would form into a monarchy that could trample individual rights. Mason's objections to the Constitution led to the breakup of his close friendship with George Washington, but it eventually led to the addition of a Bill of Rights.

I wonder what Mason would say about the current president's domestic spying program?

J. Shawn Durham is a freelance writer and columnist. He is a regular Fastbreak contributor.