Over the years I’ve learned when I write a column, it’s generally because of something that’s on my mind. The thought that’s been revolving around my cranium the past couple of weeks is how much basketball has changed over the past ten years and not in a good way. First off this is not anything to do with anything local. This is a grumpy old man rant plain and simple. I have gray in my beard and 20 years of experience in my job. That qualifies me as old. As I tell my coworkers, if I was a truck, I’d be a jalopy. And I have one of those from 1983. I’m from 1976 so I’m even worse.

Anyway, March Madness used to be one of those times of year where you could just enjoy the simple and pure way that a little school maybe can compete and beat a giant basketball power. That still happens, although this year was all about the bluebloods with all four top seeds making the Final Four for the first time since 2008. But I found myself not really wanting to watch it very much this year. Why is that? I point my finger at the three-point line. I’m sick of teams shooting 35-40 of them in a game and seeing a stat where they miss 20 in a row during a contest and end up losing the game. I hate that. I mean, I really hate it. Why would I want to watch a game where most of the times the teams miss 70-percent of the shots they take? If I wanted to watch strike-outs, I’d watch baseball where sometimes hitting 26% of chances means a $100-million contract.

All I can see are wasted possessions, the idea that the other team can get the ball back and hurt you on the scoreboard. It used to be that three-pointers were earned and when that still happens, it’s a beautiful game, it really is. But when teams just alternate launching 35-footers that sometimes brick off the backboard so hard I fear for its safety, I’m not interested. I just didn’t think it would happen so much in the college game. I haven’t cared about the NBA for awhile now, where the flopping and the ridiculous drawing of fouls on garbage shots have taken over the game. But now it’s poisoned one of the most pure and galvanizing sports events of the year with March Madness. I could barely bother to turn it on this year. I hope maybe I’m in a better mood next season, but it would help if the sport returned to a time when putting the ball through the hoop as efficiently as possible with teamwork and intelligence. I just don’t have a lot of interest in watching guys and gals catapulting a shot and holding one’s hand up in sky and backpedaling like you’ve done something amazing as it careens off and hits the mascot in the head. If that’s your idea of a sport, then go flip a water bottle until it lands upright and then cheer about it. To me, it’s about the same thing.

So, with the life advice that mirrors sports, don’t pass up a layup while you’re wanting to celebrate a three-pointer. Odds are you’re going to miss out on both.