Just to be clear: If the game had been on CBS, would we be having this discussion? No? Yeah, I figured.

There's a poll on ESPN.com's Page 2 right now about the best "marathon games" in sports history, and for the most part it's a pretty good list. Game 4 of the 2000 Stanley Cup Eastern Conference Semifinals? Interstate rivalry series, Flyers basically needed that game to stay alive/Penguins basically would have clinched if they'd won, five overtimes...solid choice. The 1982 "Epic in Miami" AFC Divisional Playoff Game between San Diego and Miami? Featured IMO the greatest individual performance in sports history (Kellen Winslow: 13 receptions, 166 receiving yards, 1 TD, 1 blocked field goal in the waning seconds of the fourth quarter, fever of 120 degrees. Unbelievable.), went to overtime, saw players on both teams as well as the teams themselves set postseason records for scoring/yardage...another fantastic choice. Game 6 of the 1986 NLCS? The greatest baseball game of all time, bar none; sent the Mets to the World Series for the first time in 17 years and dashed the hearts of Astro fans at least 25 different times over the course of 16 innings; I wrote stories when I was young about me hitting grand slams in the eighth and ninth innings of games to bring my team from 7- 0 down to winning 8-7 and I never thought up anything as crazy as that game. Yet another great choice for this poll.

And the fourth choice is...the 6-OT Syracuse-UConn game from last night. You know, the one from the first fucking round of the Big East Tournament. Where both teams had almost nothing to lose. Yeah yeah, maybe the loser would drop a seed or two in the NCAA Tournament, but both teams still had NCAA bids locked-fucking-up. Because they're broadcast on ESPN now, these conference tournaments are played up like they're just as important as the NCAA Tournament, as if Louisville would go from a 1 seed to a barely-on-the-bubble-hopefully-we-can-get-that-last-12-seed by losing in the first round. UConn was maybe looking at a #1 seed if they won; now they're going to be a #2. Wow, what an impact. Forget that those first three games were actual playoff games, that the winner was basically going to win the series and everyone knew it, and that the stakes were so much higher in them that putting the Cuse-UConn game even in the same conversation as them is stupid to the power of dumb. Just know that...

Actually, just remember that last part. I'm talking to you, ESPN.