Looking Back At March.

This past month was the month of Saint Patrick’s Day and the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Here are some thoughts about both of these events:

The actual history of Saint Patrick is often (obviously) obscured.

There is no problem with the commercialization of Saint Patrick’s day (or for that matter the commercialization of just about anything), except when it comes at the cost of absolutely forgetting the origin of the thing. For instance, there is no problem with Santa Claus as long as the public conscience remembers the events in Bethlehem. And there is no problem with one dollar pints of green beer, unless the public conscience forgets the story of Saint Patrick.

Saint Patrick was born to Roman parents in England. In his teens, he was kidnapped and brought to Ireland. He became a Christian while in captivity. Propelled by his new found faith, he escaped from Ireland back to the continent of Europe. He was then educated as a priest and never really feeling at home again in Rome or England returned to Ireland to convert the island.

Saint Patrick’s history has nothing to do with snakes or even really Irish identity, but for the fact that he brought Christianity to island and thus became the patron saint.

There is no problem with celebrating this holiday with an Irish pint, but to act as if it is a manufactured day just meant for drinking is confusing a day celebrating a Western and Christian hero with…well, Cinco de Mayo.

As for the NCAA Tournament: There have been various attempts at various levels of government to force the NCAA to have a football tournament. A simple look at this year’s basketball tournament tells us why this would not only be needless big government interference, but also just a plain bad idea.

This year's “March Madness” has been entertaining, but no one actually thinks it will produce the best team as its champion. Comparatively, Auburn (or Oregon) this year, Alabama (or Texas) last year and Florida (or Oklahoma) the year before were truly the top of the bunch in football. They were great teams and played great championship games. Do you think anyone will say the same about Virginia Commonwealth in Basketball?

The market has a way of working things out. The bowl system produces the best result for football. March Madness gets people paying attention to college basketball. In football there is a greater interest in having the best two teams play for the title. In basketball there is a greater interest in office pools and brackets and upsets. It works out nicely. The invisible hand at work.