March Madness Offers a Poignant Vignette

During the telecast of the Carolina-Ohio game -- a very good game -- the broadcast cut away to a different site where CBS broadcaster Clark Kellogg was working. The short cutaway showed a misty-eyed Kellogg watching Carolina put the finishing touches on #13 Ohio a Sweet 16 game. Kellogg's son is one of the mainstays of the Ohio team.

I'm a big Clark Kellogg fan, and in the increasing "corporate" world of big-time college basketball (of which MAC member Ohio is not a part), it was heartening to see a father's involvement with the tournament. Kellogg himself might not have appreciated the invasion of his space, but he's a gracious enough guy to understand that the rest of us really felt for him. It's hard seeing your kid out there, competing, and, yes, not always winning. Because it's the kid out there, alone, and despite all of your parenting and your ingrained views of how to protect your child, there's nothing you can do out there to help him at the moment he's competing. Sure, there's plenty that you do to put him in a position to succeed, but nothing that you can do in the heat of the competition. And that's very hard for a parent.

Good direction from the NCAA crew last night to share this moment with us.