Everyone Wants into the Dance but Hates the Chaperone

College sports are nothing if not a litany of ironies.

The biggest moneymakers are virtual minor leagues for the NFL and NBA.

Most of the others depend on the hypocrisy for their sustenance.

And everyone else complains but does nothing. Yet.

It's all convenient media filler right about this time of year, when the bloated Big Dance rakes in a few more billions for the NCAA, to be distributed disproportionately among its version of the landed gentry.

But it all sounds so heart-warming in the hands of their PR wonks:

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Once a 16-team tourney of conference champions, media money has gradually padded the bracket with more big brands to increase the inventory of ad-laden programing. Of course, others want in, not only on the humorously idealistic grounds of an equal shot in the competition, but more likely for the thought that if they're gonna get screwed, they may as well enjoy it.

Another irony: the NCAA showed practical restraint when the clamor was to really bloom the bracket. For a while back in 2010, growing to 96 entries looked odds on:

Someday, though, some demented bright light is gonna find a way to make it work. Hell, Bobby Knight's been snidely suggesting expansion to 128 ever since 2010.