Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies

Rant: NCAA should not fix something not broken

The time-honored NCAA Tournament tradition of having the four regions named after actual regions has been displaced for 2004. Instead, the name of the host city is the name of the region.

Hence, the region in Atlanta this week is not the South nor Southeast, but the Atlanta Region. St. Louis isn't hosting the Midwest Region, but the St. Louis Region.

The "city" of East Rutherford isn't a city by any reasonable definition, but instead a small plot in northern New Jersey that happens to have a big arena within its boundaries. So calling it the East Rutherford Region might not seem as weird as the Phoenix Region, per se, but a simple "East" and "West" would be less confusing and sound better.

In 2005, there will be four new region sites. Instead of designating each city as the name of the region, the NCAA should bring back the continuity it had with East, West, etc. And while NCAA officials are at it, they might want to retroactively change the name of this year's regions.

Quickly, before someone has to put up a banner that reads: "East Rutherford Region Champs."

He grew up in New Jersey and plays one of the most important positions on arguably the most well-known team in perhaps the most popular sport in the world.

Yet Tim Howard could walk down a street just about anywhere in America completely unnoticed, and chances are the name Tim Howard means nothing to you.

For the record, Howard, 24, has been the starting goalkeeper for Manchester United in the United Kingdom since arriving across the pond last year. His swift ascension has been remarkable.

While Howard was considered a future starter for the U.S. team, getting the call from Man U and immediately seizing a starting spot took it to the highest level. It's like starring for the Yankees, coaching Kentucky basketball or being Tiger Woods, times 10.

Howard's story is particularly compelling because he has Tourette's syndrome. It has no effect on his game, but British tabloids were vicious when he first arrived.

Howard now faces his biggest test. Despite positive reviews of his play, he recently was benched; a whirlwind year for Howard took a sudden spin for the worse.

Howard has handled his rapid rise from obscurity to fame with equanimity. Faced with a fresh batch of adversity, expect him to persevere and bounce back.