This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.
Good morning, Winners! Thanks so much for tapping in with the Morning Win today. We appreciate you giving us a bit of your time.
Are y’all ready for March, man?!? I am. Bring it on already.
With all due respect to February — a fantastic month, by the way — I am ready for some upset specials in my life.
UConn’s wild loss to Creighton just has me ready to watch a bunch of dudes I do not know by name beat some of the best basketball teams in the country. That’s what March Madness is all about, right? We’re all here for the upsets.
Creighton’s 85-66 win was almost the perfect primer for the NCAA tournament. It’s not quite unfathomable that Creighton would beat UConn — coming into the game the Bluejays were ranked No. 15 in the nation and had a pretty good record of 19-7.
This isn’t the biggest upset in the world, but it’s still an upset worthy of storming the court.
DOWN GOES NO. 1 UCONN!!!!!!! 🔥🐦 @BluejayMBB pic.twitter.com/iM3iQaGPO0
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) February 21, 2024
That’s the thing I love so much about March Madness. It’s the schadenfreude from it all, man. The sheer joy on one side of the court and the devastation on the other. It’s gut-wrenchingly beautiful.
Sometimes, it’s fair to say things can go a bit too far like when Dan Hurley seemingly threatens a fan or when Caitlin Clark collides with a student after they storm the court. Those moments are not college basketball’s best, to be sure.
But there’s something about the juxtaposition of seeing someone’s best moment coinciding with another person’s absolute worst that just makes this stuff so addicting. That’s what makes March so special.
I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. But, to me, it’s what sports is all about. Bring it all on.
The College Football Playoff is settled
Speaking of college tournaments, the College Football Playoff’s new 12-team format is officially set. It was announced by the committee on Tuesday morning.
All 10 of the FBS chancellors plus Notre Dame’s president voted unanimously for the format. That includes the Pac-12, which abstained from voting several times previously while the conference tried to figure out its future.
How it works:
— The tournament will be in the 5+7 format originally proposed with the five highest-ranking conference champions getting automatic bids.
— The other seven teams in the playoff will be the next highest-ranking at-large teams in the pool
— The first four teams all get a first-round bye while the No. 5 through No. 12 seeds will play each other to advance.
This seemed to be the best format to benefit the Power Four (?) conferences and the Pac-12. The P4 conference champions get automatic bids. The Pac-12’s two teams still have a shot at seven at-large slots for the next two years, too. It’s not a win-win, but it’s as close as it was going to get while the Pac-12 works to rebuild its conference.
I still think 12 teams are too many here, but it’ll be fascinating to watch this work
Time for a change already?
MLB players hate their new jerseys so much, they’re already trying to switch things up. Our Andrew Joseph has more detail on that here.
Nike’s new Vapor Premier uniforms seem to be universally disliked at this point. So much so that Tony Clark, the president of the MLBPA, is working to change the uniforms back. He spoke with The Athletic about it this week.
“We are on the phone with the requisite parties that are involved in making that decision because we aren’t. We’re trying to make sure our guys have what they need in the fashion that they need it. And it’s reflective of what being a major-league ballplayer should be reflective of.”
It’s far too late to make any large-scale changes here. Nike’s plan is set in stone. But there is some hope to change little things with the detailing here.
“Specifically, players aren’t pleased with the smaller (and more curved) name plate, lack of stitching and overall feel for the uniforms,” Andrew Joseph writes. “They’d also want to be able to tailor the pants to their liking as they used to be able to.”
There’s a lot of work to be done here and not a ton of time to do it. Best of luck to Tony Clark. He’s going to need it.
READ MORE: Here’s what Fanatics and Nike’s new MLB uniforms look like for all 30 teams.
Quick hits: Fixing the NBA All-Star game … Doc Rivers’ hilariously brutal admission … and more
— Prince Grimes has a brilliant solution to fix the competitiveness of the NBA All-Star game. Give my guy a call, Adam Silver.
— Here’s Bryan Kalbrosky on Doc Rivers admitting he didn’t know why the Bucks chose to hire him.
— Patrick Mahomes was already thinking three-peat while celebrating at the Super Bowl. Robert Zeglinski has more.
— Cory Woodroof has the perfect casting for the Beatles for the new upcoming project focusing on the band. The Beatles Cinematic Universe is here, folks.
— This mid-off between Patrick Beverley and JJ Redick about Doc Rivers is hilarious.
— Here are the best bets from Prince Grimes on when and how LeBron James will score his 40,000th point.
That’s a wrap, folks. Let’s chat again tomorrow. Peace.
-Sykes ✌️