Be cynical if you want, but you'll be the only one

Eamon Brennan with a preview of tonight's game:

In 2010, it's easy for a sports fan to be jaded. In our modern world, where seemingly inconsequential sports contests are drowned by layer upon layer of analysis, fun storylines are uncovered, chewed up, spit out, and discarded atop so many others the minute we grow tired of them. It's just how it works.

But Butler's miracle run to the precipice of sporting history is one that will stand the test of time. You don't need me to reiterate how large the gulf is between Duke and Butler when it comes to resources, tradition, and profile. What's interesting about Butler's run, though, is that it would be just as awe-inspiring if the Bulldogs were playing West Virginia or Baylor. A mid-major team from Indiana with a bunch of under-recruited, disrespected players -- which just so happens to play its home games in a historic arena that provided the backdrop for the most famous basketball upset of all-time and the film ("Hoosiers") that lionized it -- playing for its first NCAA title in its basketball-obsessed hometown? Come on. Be cynical if you want, but you'll be the only one. The whole thing is just too cool.

I quibble with a substantive point or two -- particularly the implications regarding Butler's size/rebounding disadvantage -- but on the whole, a solid preview piece.