Monday, April 05, 2004

9:21 p.m. EDT

That's when this year's NCAA Division I National Championship Game began. Why? I can think of three reasons:

  • CBS didn't want to shut out the west coast fans. This way the game starts at 6:21 PDT, or 6:21 MST for Arizona. Of course, the last team from the west that went to the final for was Arizona -- in 2001.
  • CBS really wanted you to watch the Peter Jennings special on ABC about Jesus and Paul.
  • CBS wanted to plug two lousy sitcoms in the 8-9 hour.

("I'm going to take door number 3, Monty.")

Let's see. What would happen if Major League Baseball started a World Series Game at 9:21? Media explosion. "You're keeping the game away from the young fans.!!!" But the NCAA gets a free ride on this. Why?