March Madness is finally upon us.
Now, when I said that, did you get a picture in your head of the defending National Champion Baylor Bears going down in the Round of 32, or the 15-seed St. Peters Peacocks strutting on?
Or did you maybe get a picture of 12-seed Belmont shocking Oregon, or even Creighton making the top-scoring offense in college basketball look ordinary?
Because for the first time ever, the women's college basketball tournament is also called March Madness.
Let that sink in.
The NCAA earned trademark rights to the phrase in 1989, and the rights extended to both men and women. However, the NCAA chose to only promote the men's tournament as such.
It wasn't until Oregon women's basketball star Sedona Prince exposed the disparities in the tournaments last year in her viral video of weight rooms, food, and swag bags, that the institution's hand was finally forced to make equitable changes.
But it doesn't begin and end at signage.
Players and fans deserve top-tier neutral sites for opening rounds. The teams also deserve financial bonuses delivered to the conferences for wins in the tournament.
When games are sold out, advertising is sold out, and three of the top-10 influencing athletes in college sports are women's basketball players, it's time to wake up and take notice.
There's no more excuses that no one's watching.