NCAA: March Madness isn’t just the NCAA

So March has come and gone, and March Madness did not disappoint. But it’s more than college hoops. There was craziness in all areas of the sports world. Some of the happenings of this storied month rival any basketball game. Let’s reflect on the Madness that was March 2000.

March Madness was: Nike starting a program to allow consumers to personalize their sneakers by stitching a name or phrase on the shoes for $50. A "Freedom to express who you are" as Nike put it. Jonah Paretti mailed in his money and requested the word "Sweatshop" be embroidered on his shoes. After Nike rejected it, saying it would not print any "inappropriate slang", Jonah offered a compromise and requested a picture of the 10-year-old Vietnamese girl who had made his shoes. Okay, Jonah. Let it rest.

Nike had more problems with the new Air Jordan line of sneakers. Police were called to numerous stores when fights broke out as people waited outside to get first crack at the new shoes. One youngster in Cleveland was walking home when a car pulled up and robbed him of his new Air Jordans at gunpoint. The boy could have had a thousand dollars in his pocket but the shoes were all they wanted. My fear is that some people are spending $130 on a pair of tennis shoes instead of putting food on the table. That’s crazy.

March Madness was: A Wisconsin high school baseball player was deemed ineligible because he appeared in an advertisement for the sports merchandise company he works for.

Wausau West High School senior Jesse Fronek, an honor student who also plays football, works part time at a retail store of Eastbay, a mail-order athletic company based in Wausau. He works four hours a week. A manager asked him to appear in a series of ads featuring exceptional employees and he agreed.

That was a no-no as far as the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association was concerned. Their rules prohibit student athletes from receiving money for advertisements or from endorsing products, so Fronek was ruled ineligible for his final baseball season.

He appealed and received just a two-game suspension for his illicit act. In a related story, A local restaurant dropped the popular "Jesse Home Run Burger Platter" from their menu.

March Madness was: High school basketball, period. Give me a two small-town schools with names like Old Fort and Tipp City Bethel going at it any day. The entire population of some of these cities could fit in the arenas that host the state championships.

March Madness was: "Now for my next trick, I will make this birdie...Disappear!" A low flying feathery friend got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time and couldn’t keep his eye off a Randy Johnson heater during a Diamondbacks-Giants game. As the dove sailed in front of the plate, Johnson said "And with a wave of my magic arm...Poof!"

Arizona catcher Rod Barajas said "I’m expecting to catch the (ball), and all I see is an explosion!"

March Madness was: Finger Lickin’ good: Kentucky Fried Chicken offered a multimillion-dollar deal to move the Vancouver Grizzlies to Louisville. The Club would be renamed the Kentucky Colonels and play in a new $200 million arena named the KFC Bucket. Don’t laugh. It’s a serious offer. Kentucky had an ABA team named the Colonels who won the championship over the Indiana Pacers in 1975.

March Madness was: 87-year old bowler Barry Thomas becoming the oldest American to roll a 300 game at Pla More Lanes in Nashville, Tennessee. Twelve days before his 88th birthday, Thomas let loose in the first game for the perfecto. Showing that it was no fluke, he continued his dominance of the lanes with a 172 and 185 to finish a 657 series.

Thomas is part of a group of about 100 senior citizen bowlers who bowl every Monday. Unfortunately, only seven were awake when he rolled his last strike.

Stay tuned to this channel to see what fools dance through the world of sports during April.