By By ANDY HAMILTON / Niles Daily Star
NILES – Some people say the Super Bowl should be a national holiday.
Others claim the World Series is the greatest American sporting event.
For Mike, Sue and Ian Armstrong, there's nothing better than March Madness.
"We are going to be spending the next month in front of the TV watching basketball," Mike said from a seat in front of a flat screen at The Tavern in Niles.
The 2007 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship tipped off Thursday. This year's Final Four will be played March 31 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, with the championship to follow April 2.
The Armstrongs of Niles are big fans of University of Kentucky basketball, though none picked the Wildcats to get past the second round. Mike and Sue both have the University of Florida Gators repeating as champs, and Ian's betting the UCLA Bruins will defeat the University of Louisville for the crown and avenge last year's loss in the championship game.
"They had a good stretch there at the end of the year," Ian said of the Cardinals.
Mike predicted the 2007 tournament wouldn't be as exciting as last year's edition when George Mason shocked the country all the way to the Final Four.
"I don't think there's going to be any upsets the first round," he said, prior to Virginia Commonwealth University toppling sixth-seeded Duke University Blue Devils.
Also at the table were Judith and Chris Harrison – Niles residents transplanted from England. Chris said the first four weeks of the NFL season and the conference championship games are great, but he too thought the NCAA tourney was the best of American sports.
Soccer, and namely the English Premier League, gets the most attention, but there's nothing in England that compares to how the Final Four is played, Judith said.
"There's nothing … where they play everyday like this," Judith said.
The World Series is exciting when the Tigers play, but nothing like college basketball, Mike said. The Super Bowl is more a spectacle, like watching pro wrestling, he added.
"This is the best time of the year," Sue said.