Donut Center

The NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, AKA March Madness, AKA American business slows to a crawl as cubicle dwellers fill out their brackets and dream of winning riches in the office pool, plays its games at "neutral sites" as opposed to the home campuses of the participants. Said "neutral sites" are not in Switzerland or Sweden and do not have eggshell white or gray as their dominant color scheme. They are arenas in big cities whose hotels and restaurants eagerly anticipate the arrivals of thousands of well-heeled fans of the participants.

The Tournament's first round will take place at the HP (as in Hewlett-Packard) Pavilion in San Jose, at HSBC (a big, no doubt too big to fail, bank) Arena in Buffalo, at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City and at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee among other sites. The common thread here is a big corporation paying big bucks for naming rights and a sort of macho cachet. "Today, you may be playing basketball at the Hewlett-Packard Pavilion, baggy shorts-wearing, tattooed, corn-rowed young athlete. Tomorrow, you'll be working for our wonderful corporation (assuming that you clean up your act)."

Destroying this concept is another Tournament site - The Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, RI. Dunkin' Donuts Center? Dunkin' Donuts have no centers! They all became munchkins! What donut centers exist are creme or jelly filling. At least, name the arena The Dunkin' Donuts Powdered Sugar Topping or Glaze, but never Center.

Actually, considering the academic achievement level of many collegiate hoopsters and the current job market, Dunkin' Donuts, more than H-P, HSBC, Ford, or Bradley might be the employment destination for many of these lads.