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Why? Because everyone takes off work on the first Thursday and Friday of the tournament to watch games? Or because amateur prognosticators walk around -- after the first-round, mind you -- telling anyone who will listen that they "still have three of four Final Four teams left?"

Maybe March madness is so exciting because of all the suspense built up over three weeks leading to the best team in the country, UConn, staking its official claim as the best team in the country? Maybe not.

It's not that I'm a college basketball hater. I like the NCAA tournament, but don't love it. I like watching college hoops on TV, but not waking up on a Saturday to tune in to see the end of a not-so-thrilling Purdue/Wisconsin game, especially when the winner tops out at 53 points.

This is the most wonderful time of the year. Right now. Major League baseball has given us surprises (Texas Rangers), good guys (Marlins, Red Sox), an evil villain (take a guess? hint: rhymes with hankies), and one of the coolest stats in sports in the McCovey Cove splash hit. Throw in the Stanley Cup, a Grand Slam tennis tournament, the World Series of Poker, and last, but not least, the final stages of the NBA playoffs, and it's time to party like you're Eddie Murphy -- all the time.

We see the best basketball players on the planet playing almost every night this time of year; the NCAA tournament makes us wait until the weekend to watch college kids with tons of heart, a firm grasp of fundamentals, and little talent.

Every play, every possession, and every game are critical in the NBA playoffs. Every player is a millionaire and each one of them is laying it all on the line. Meanwhile, Duke is going to the Final Four -- again! -- and a 16-seed still hasn't won a game.

The ratings and intensity are high during this year's NBA playoffs. While Billy Packer vs. Phil Martelli was the marquee rivalry in this season's tournament, Anthony Peeler and Kevin Garnett were going Jerry Springer on us and throwing cheap shots and elbows. No contest.

And speaking of Garnett, the 2003-2004 MVP is a seven-footer like no other we've seen before -- agile, athletic, quick, and consistent from the outside. Meanwhile, Georgia Tech's Luke Schenscher is a seven-footer who is ... well, seven feet.

The conspiracy theorists and NBA haters will tell us that the playoffs are scripted, the games are fixed, and David Stern rigs the playoffs. If the playoffs are indeed scripted, who came up with the Derek Fisher and Chauncey Billups' shots?

It's the most wonderful time of the year.

Just when the tears have dried from "One Shining Moment," it's time to, as the Black Eyed Peas sing no fewer than 2,000 times during the six-week playoff period on ESPN's four networks, "Get It Started."

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