Could someone tell me where fall went? Either the days are fairly warm or they have the ability to turn humans into ice sculptures. There’s too much craziness going on in the weather lately. Maybe that’s what has been affecting basketball everywhere.

Wild Courtdom

Leave it to the first week of college basketball to leave people dumbfounded.

Is there any other reason to love the sport? At last week’s Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, the star team came from last year’s Final Four, but it wasn’t Maryland.

Who knew that after losing four starters, Lute Olson’s Arizona Wildcats would upset two Top-five squads to win the classic? Not many.

Therein lies the beauty of what we’ll be tuning into for the next five months.

College basketball is the greatest level of sport there is, anywhere. Now, pro and college football definitely provide their moments. Tennis and soccer provide good continuous action for long periods of time, and there’s not a lot that’s better than a dual down the back nine of a golf major.

However, college basketball typifies what excitement in sports is all about, hype, blood and anarchy.

Every preseason there is one or two teams that are overhyped. With NCAA basketball, the list can be expanded to five or more (maybe more when the women are added into the mix).

Add in the polls, which seem to be determined by how many gray hairs coaches can keep out of their hair the week before, and the letdowns and surprises have much more meaning.

Then there are the rivalries that send the sport to a new level. Teams live and breathe for the day they can capture bragging rights from their most hated enemies. Almost as important is the race to get into the final 65 at the end of the season. Come late February, squads in contention would give their limbs for an extra quality win or an automatic entry.

Add in fans that are mostly comprised of young, loud, crass college students.

There are not as many people as can fit into a football stadium, but I would like to know anyplace in sports that gets louder than an arena watching a buzzer-beater go down for the home team. Those same fans come instilled with a loyalty that dies harder than Strom Thurmond, although it probably won’t live longer than the Methuselah of Congress.

Add all of these components together, and you get the best sporting event this side of the Olympics.

Absurd Predictions

This week, it’s back into the ring for more boxing. However, there’s more than pride waiting at the final bell. Hasim Rahman upset Lennox Lewis earlier this year, and the two will replay their battle.

The dual between these two got a jump start after a tussle insued on ESPN’s “Up Close” talk show.

In many ways, boxing is turning into its trash-talking, hoochie-mama touting, raucous fan watching cousin, the WWF.

Because of this, I propose that we get rid of the whole title-bout thing and just let one and all have a shot in a Battle Royale.

Just think of it. Lewis, Rahman, Evander Holyfield, John Ruiz and wild card Mike Tyson all in the same ring, biting ears, throwing chairs and giving low blows at and to each other.

Lewis and Holyfield will get thrown out first due to their advanced age. That leaves the young guns, Rahman and Ruiz, to pummel each other while Iron Mike picks his points to deliver cheap shots.

In the end, Crazy Mike (his stagename) will come out on top over the two upstarts, climbing the ropes and raising his hands in victory as the new undisputed champ.

Of course, Don King would be there, beaming at all the pay-per-view sales and publicity the event would receive.

Alright, it may not happen that way, so to be safe, I’ll say Rahman wins with a TKO in the 10th round.

It may not be Don King’s American way, but at least it’ll be tactful.

Jonathan Lowe is a senior in meteorology from Kansas City, Mo.