We have finally reached one of the best times of the sports year: March Madness.

It is a time where millions of web browsers steaming games will be minimized as the boss approaches your desk, where Cinderella makes you like a dummy and when the office secretary schools you in the company bracket pool.

It is a glorious time of year.

Sixty-eight of the best college hoops teams in the nation will go toe-to-toe to settle who is the national champion.

Imagine that. A national championship decided by play on the court, not an opinion of computer or nerdy sports writer. (Yea, I’m talking about you FBS Football. You should be ashamed of yourself.)

Every year there seems to be that one team that captured the heart of the nation as the make a run to the Final Four or beyond.

We have seen Butler, George Mason, Virginia Commonwealth and Florida Gulf Coast do it in years past, and I’m sure some champion of an obscure league like the Horizon or Big Sky will do the same in 2014.

It is what makes the tourney so special.

Every college basketball team competing in the top tier of the sport knows what is has to do to win a national title.

Everyone is on a even playing field, which makes for the epic David over Goliath upsets we have grown accustomed too.

Making a bowl is fun for a football team, but the current system rewards a team for going 6-6. Should a team, coaching staff and fan base be excited for being mediocre?

The new plus-one system is a step in the right direction, but in the end, it doesn’t solve a thing.

If FBS football put the conference champions, and maybe five or six at-large teams, in a single-elimination tournament, think of the fun and possibilities.

The passion and pageantry of college football mixed with the excitement and unpredictability of a true tournament.

Ryan McCollough is a sports writer for The Messenger. He covers recreation, high school and Troy University athletics and is a member of the Football Writers Association of America.