No. The Czar of the Teleprompter was not criticized for failing to fill out a hotties bracket. USA Today’s Christine Brennan, who is usually a sensible sports columnist, upbraided President Obama for filling out a men’s NCAA bracket and ignoring the women’s tourney.

Seriously. Brennan even opened her USA Today blog post with the … dramatic … single … word …

Madness.

As the father of two athletic daughters, President Obama should know all about the importance of sports for women and girls.

Which is why he should have filled out not only a men’s NCAA tournament bracket but also a women’s tournament bracket in his well-publicized appearance on ESPN last week.

I realize the men’s tournament is much more popular than the women’s, and Obama is a big men’s hoops fan and avid player, but the fact remains there is another top-notch college basketball tournament going on at the same time, and he absolutely should have acknowledged it.

He also should have insisted on saying his bracket was for the "men’s NCAA tournament."

Those who don’t use that pesky little adjective — and you know who you are — are acting as if there’s no women’s tournament at all, or it’s so beneath them, it’s not worth mentioning. This is rather silly. It is 2009, after all.

Ahhhh. Yes. The old "it’s … well … whatever year it is, you knuckle dragging dope … GET WITH THE PROGRAM!"

(Sigh)

I love sports. I fill out brackets every year (and am doing pretty well so far, thank you very much). But no college basketball fan and general sports fan gives a hoot about the women’s NCAA tourney. None. (Ok. That’s an exaggeration. I believe there are five sports fans who watch it regularly enough to fill out an informed bracket, but they refuse to come forward and expose their lameness.)

ESPN, and columnists like Brennan, have been hyping women’s college hoops for years. It’s gotten tons of free pub and promotion on The Worldwide Leader of Sports. But despite having it crammed down ESPN viewers’ throats, no one watches. No one cares. They play in front of largely-empty arenas. The games are often lopsided, and the caliber of play is too-often embarrassingly poor. It is hardly "top notch."

The NCAA Tournament (there’s no need to put "men’s" in front of it; everyone knows what you’re talking about when you say "March Madness" … and it ain’t about seeing the legendary Pat Summitt prowl the sidelines for the Lady Vols) has risen to the status of an American cultural event. It’s like the Super Bowl. It surpasses merely sports. NCAA pools are now an office staple. Wives and girlfriends, who merely tolerate the sports obsession of their significant others, have filled out brackets based on mascot names. And often, they get to brag about how much better they did.

To slyly accuse Obama of sexism because, ike 99 percent of all sports fans, he’s not interested in watching the women’s game is absurd. Yes. I’m running down the women’s game in this post, but I’m not sexist, either. I just like entertaining sporting events.

For instance, I think women’s tennis is better and more entertaining than men’s tennis — and that is not just because of the cute girls who play the sport. It’s simply a better version of the game. The men’s game is often a big booming serve … a mis-hit … point to Nadal. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. If you’re lucky, you get five shots in a rally. The womens’ game is much more entertaining, and many more points are decided by shot strategy, guile and hustle.

So … let it not be said that I’ve never defended Barack Obama. I’ve got your back on this one, homie.

(Cross-posted at Infinite Monkeys)