Brackets! It’s March Madness, which means plenty of people — college basketball fans or otherwise — are filling out their NCAA Tournament brackets to beat out their friends and colleagues with their picks.
But bracket fever also extends beyond the NCAA Tournament into other aspects of sports and culture. The possible topics for a good bracket are numerous. Best college basketball or NBA players of all time. Greatest buzzer-beaters. Best sports movie. Best TV sitcom. And what about food? Maybe a local publication has lined up a Best Fried Chicken Sandwich bracket.
Crossing Broad did the work and put together a field of 32 for Philadelphia sports talk radio. With such a deep sports radio scene in the city — with SportsRadio 94WIP and 97.5 The Fanatic, in addition to the contributors and callers for each station — Crossing Broad could assemble a bracket quite easily.
Philly sports fans and radio listeners will likely agree with the No. 1 seeds in each region. WIP’s Angelo Cataldi and Mike Missanelli from 97.5 The Fanatic typically battle for the top show in the market. But some of the argument and competition among fans begins while moving down the bracket.
Howard Eskin and Glen Macnow, both from WIP are the No. 2 seeds. The No. 3 seeds are Macnow’s co-host, Hall of Famer Ray Didinger, and John Kincade, who’s come on strong as 97.5 The Fanatic’s morning man. Should weekday shows get more consideration over weekend shows? That’s an intriguing consideration. Then the No. 4 seeds are a battle of midday hosts, The Cuz (Anthony Gargano) and WIP’s Joe DeCamara.
Who is being overlooked? Is anyone overseeded? Underseeded? What are the later round match-ups to anticipate? Those are the sorts of things that make filling out brackets, no matter the subject, so fun.
All voting for the bracket will be through @CrossingBroad on Twitter. You can see each first-round matchup on their timeline right now.
Ian Casselberry is a sports media columnist for BSM. He has previously written and edited for Awful Announcing, The Comeback, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation. You can find him on Twitter @iancass or reach him by email at iancass@gmail.com.
