Soccer's postseason tournaments begin

As advertisers and shopping malls have let you know by now, it is never too early to start thinking about the holiday season. That brings me to this question: Was it Bing Crosby or David Crosby who crooned that magical phrase, "It's the most wonderful time of the year?" Who cares who it was, the important part is that it has arrived. \nNo, not the Christmas season -- that doesn't start until after Thanksgiving (at least to this die-hard). "It" is college soccer's postseason, and after two months of play across this great land of ours, "it" is in full swing, as conference tournaments around the country are starting up and winding down. \nSchools such as IUPUI, Radford and Marist don't have visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads, but dreams of making the College Cup. For these schools, winning their conference tournaments were not enough -- they must battle each other in a play-in game to see who makes soccer's version of "the big dance." \nWhile the winner of these games are likely to go down in the wake of some Atlantic Coast Conference squad's dust, that is not the point. For these "Davids" simply making the tournament itself and getting the chance to make some postseason waves are rewards for months of hard training and a grueling regular season schedule.\nThen there are schools such as North Carolina, Connecticut and Stanford. These are the teams that, win or lose in their conference tournaments, are near guaranteed to take one of the top eight seeds Monday afternoon when the College Cup bracket is announced. The higher the seed in the College Cup, the better the chance of home-field advantage in the first, second and third rounds. \nTeams such as San Diego, Clemson, Virginia and the Hoosiers -- teams that are in the tournament and fighting for one of those last eight seeds. This weekend is crucial for such squads, as it is the last chance for them to assert their dominance to the selection committee. This theme of dominance bodes well for IU, with the Big Ten tournament starting today and the Hoosiers not falling to a Big Ten opponent since roughly the dawn of time.\nAnd then there are the bubble teams. UCLA and Portland have fallen on hard times in the past month and have fallen hard.\nWhile most of the madness of collegiate conference tournaments is reserved for March, November also has its share of excitement.\nWith the parity in college soccer this season, Monday's bracket announcement will be just as controversial as basketball's usually is.. So I suggest college sports junkies to follow this "November Nuttiness" all the way through next month's finals. While your ultimate fix may come in March, just think of this as an early holiday season gift.