March Madness: The Perfect Event

I am a huge fan of March Madness. The excitement and emotional roller coaster ride that is the tournament is just a pure joy to watch. But there is another aspect of the event that makes it even more appealing to a guy like me.

It rewards success.

You play the game and if you win you get to move on and play another game. You lose, you go home. That is how competitions should be. Not this feel good "everybody is a winner" stuff that so many think needs to be pushed. Life is hard, and you may have noticed, is not always fair. There aren't enough examples in our world where we simply accept the outcome as the judge as to whom "won" and who "lost". No one has tried to tinker with the tournaments format to do anything other than have the team that wins advance.

It is why I like weight lifting so much. Like the tournament, lifting is an outcome based event. If you can bench 300 lbs and I can't you are stronger than me. Pure and simple. You may or may not have genetics, age, or whatever on your side, the bottom line is 300 lbs is 300 lbs. The people that can lift it are stronger than those that cant.

The beauty of weight lifting is that you don't have to wait a year for another shot at your success. If you don't lift your goal weight today, learn how to build muscle and there is a tomorrow to try again. But the agony of weight lifting is that if you lift it today and you can't the next time, what is your excuse?

That's why example's like March Madness are so important. There are no excuses. Win or go home.