YES

Most everyone in the rowdy crowd standing in front of the massive TV screen was exchanging high-fives and disbelieving looks.

The throng was expanding by the minute. The decibel level was going through the roof.

Something big was going on. But what?

It was mid-March in Laughlin, Nev. I can't remember which casino we were in, but the air in the sports book was electric.

A buddy and I had escaped from the Midwest for as many holes of golf as we could squeeze into a long weekend in the Nevada desert. But now something else had caught our attention: the NCAA tournament.

Turns out Gonzaga was in the midst of another upset special. The Bulldogs were draining 3-pointer after 3-pointer in their 1999 second-round stunner over Stanford, and a hundred or so strangers were going bonkers.

Just like a million or so carefully laid-out brackets from that year, our meticulously planned itinerary had not accounted for the Zags.

So we said the hell with golf, grabbed some beers and started screaming with everyone else.

Doesn't matter if you're from Michigan or Montana or Maine -- everyone cheers for the underdog. The NCAA tournament galvanizes fans like no other sporting event, especially when the Gonzagas or George Masons or Kent States are about to slay some hoops behemoth from a so-called "power conference."

No postseason generates this type of buzz, even if it comes in short bursts and often disappears as quickly as it arrives. Cinderella teams get their moment in the spotlight, but only the best ones survive for the long haul in this tournament. It takes six wins to be called a champion, and that takes luck -- and Gonzaga -- out of the championship equation. Just as it should be.

If you want to see Prince or Janet Jackson -- and maybe, just maybe, a wardrobe malfunction -- tune in to the Super Bowl. If you want to see lousy teams playing meaningless games, college football has a Jimmy Dean Sausage Bowl just for you.

If you want high drama and high-fives and the kind of excitement that will make you blow off that afternoon tee time with no regrets, the NCAA tournament is the one and only.

Contact sports editor Loren Nelson at (760) 740-3551 or lnelson@nctimes.com.