ALL THE REASONS TO BE MAD.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

A 3-point shot to tie by Dan Grunfeld, 20-year-old son of NBA executive Ernie, comes up short in Seattle and time runs out on stunned Stanford in a loss to Alabama. Seconds later, two desperate shots to tie by D.J. Strawberry, 18-year-old son of Darryl, roll off the rim in Denver and the season ends maddeningly for Maryland in an upset to Syracuse.

And just like that, within a few thumps of the heart late Saturday afternoon, thanks to some quick switch-flicking at CBS, television viewers are reminded why the NCAA Tournament works.

It always seems to me the tournament succeeds in spite of itself. It's the ``Springtime for Hitler'' of the sports world. Its creators must have secretly been hoping for a box-office flop.

I mean, what if I told you there's an event with all of the following characteristics?

It is contested by amateurs in a sport with a thriving professional class.

It is contested by teams that draw intense loyalty only from people who attended four-year colleges.

It usually has no team from one or more of the nation's biggest sports markets, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

It is played at neutral sites, so most seats are filled by fans without an immediate rooting interest.

It represents one of the most scandal-plagued of all major sports.

It features a cast of largely unknown players, and rarely keeps the same stars from one year to the next.

It has a single-elimination format that makes it as likely as not that your team will be out after 40 minutes.

It has a few teams each year that everybody agrees have absolutely no chance of winning a single game.

It has predictable plotlines, such as the annual emergence of a Cinderella team or two.

And it depends on gambling, in the form of office pools, for its water cooler appeal.

You'd say that's hardly the formula to create the most beatified of America's big sports events. Yet those are all characteristics of the tournament that began its annual run Thursday. And despite them all, when TV ratings for the tournament's opening round were announced Saturday, they showed 4.8 percent of television households tuning in, matching the event's best ratings in the past seven years, not bad in an era when only the Super Bowl truly captivates the nation.

Somehow, with everybody talking about ``March Madness'' as if that's the tournament's actual name, the negatives are twisted into positives. The amateurs are ``untainted.'' The small-town teams are sweet. The scandals create fascinating antiheroes. The utter, law-of-averages inevitability of it doesn't stop media promoters from expressing giddy surprise when a Cinderella wins a couple of games. The rapid turnover of stars keep it fresh (meanwhile, the pro sports get hammered for their rosters' less-constant changes). The office pools that widen interest are greeted as harmless naughtiness (meanwhile, pari-mutuel sports like horse racing are dismissed as over-reliant on gambling).

That the NCAA Tournament has gained such a hold on the nation's heart despite its weaknesses is a mark of how great it is in one crucial area.

For sheer, no-second-chances, triumph-or-heartbreak finality, you'll find nothing outside an Olympic Games to compare with what we saw in the span of about a minute Saturday afternoon.

Baseball, basketball and hockey play numbingly long regular seasons and then round after round of best-of-sevens for their championships. NFL playoff losers always have next year. The world's best golfer uses the West Coast swing as a Masters warm-up. The world's most famous tennis players don't seem to care anymore. All around us are reasons to worry if sports is all about winning these days.

But is there any doubt that Dan Grunfeld, pulling up at the 3-point arc in the final second, was going all-out to win (or that Ernie Grunfeld was living and dying with that shot)?

Is there any doubt that D.J. Strawberry, flinging up a runner from the baseline and a follow from the lane, was giving it everything he's got (or that Darryl Strawberry was jumping out of his seat as the last second ticked off)?

Have you ever seen a game that isn't played with all-or-nothing intensity in the NCAA Tournament?

The one big thing that's right with the tournament makes up for everything that's wrong with it.

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Photo:

D.J. Strawberry, left, is one reason why the NCAA Tournament is the highlight of sports.

David Zalubowski/Associated Press