Brackets set for men’s and women’s tournaments

The NCAA released the fields for the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments on Sunday evening. Monday morning they released the official brackets. Click here for the men’s bracket, and here for the women’s bracket.

Also, for those of you that enjoy filling out brackets when the Division I tournament rolls around, check out d3hoops.com. They have a free pick ‘em contest for both the men’s and women’s tourneys. I’m in the process of filling out my brackets as I write this, so if I’m able to post them here, I will do so. Otherwise I’ll just post my predictions for some notable games and any upsets I forsee.

New rule change allows for eye protection

I’ve always believed that any and every sport involving a ball/puck and a stick of some sort should require facial protective gear. Case in point: I was one of the few kids to wear goggles during floor hockey in high school gym class. My reasoning? Simple. I’d rather play with semi-fogged goggles then risk losing an eye.

Apparently I’m not the only one with that kind of thought process. Just yesterday the NCAA announced that:

The Divisions I, II and III Field Hockey Committees approved all International Hockey Federation (FIH) rules changes for the 2007-08 during their annual meetings last month, including one that will allow players to wear eye protection if they choose to do so.

Previously the only players allowed to wear any kind of protective gear over their eyes were players with medical reasons. The goggles will resemble the pair to the left.

This new rule is far overdue, but nonetheless still gets approval from me. I must admit I’m interested to see what the reaction is to this decision. I suspect it won’t be as boisterous as it would be if the protective gear was made mandatory. I believe it should be mandatory, as it is in college ice hockey, but that’s another argument for another day.

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