The NCAA is currently investigating how the full bracket for the men’s basketball tournament was leaked online before it was officially announced on CBS’ Selection Sunday show. The leaked bracket spread quickly online, leading many fans (and even some coaches and players) to find out their team’s fate before it was officially announced.

I don’t know who leaked the bracket but I can tell you right now why it was leaked and why it’s a big deal: Because CBS got greedy, turned what should have been a 30-minute program into a two-hour program, and demanded America sit, wait and — most importantly — watch commercials.

What happened next should surprise no one who has an Internet connection: Someone got impatient and leaked the bracket, and instead of the leak happening 5 or 10 minutes before the actual announcement — giving it no time to spread — the leak happened an hour before the final bracket was released. Now you had coaches and players finding out before the word came down from on high, with the added indignity of making them hope upon hope that the leak was fake … only to get the crush of finding out it was, in fact, real.

What makes it even more infuriating is that CBS didn’t come anywhere close to justifying why this should have been a two-hour program instead of a 30-minute one. There was no unique or illuminating content. You had a few canned interviews with coaches visibly nervous and afraid to say anything, and then you had Charles Barkley talking nonsensically about a sport he doesn’t follow using a touch screen technology he clearly didn’t understand.

This isn’t to slight Chuck — who is my favorite basketball analyst on TV and whose work covering the NBA is unmatched in my opinion, at least in terms of entertainment. But CBS had to know he was unprepared to fill two hours of sitting around and talking about the college game, and had to know he didn’t properly know how to use the touch screen. (More than one person I know suggested that having him try use the technology was a cynical ploy to get easy laughs and distract the audience from the fact that he doesn’t know all that much about college basketball.)

The whole thing was cynical and gross — a two-hour version of “Find out if the main character lives or dies … after these messages” and played with the hearts and minds of countless college basketball fans across the country. I got so sick of it I flipped over to an MLS game, and even the most feverish, knuckle-dragging soccer hater in America would have to admit it was infinitely more entertaining than anything CBS was putting on.

UPDATE: It appears a lot of America agreed with my decision.

CBS drew a 3.7 overnight rating for NCAA Selection Show. Lowest in around 20 years. First-ever 2-hour format in 2016. Also had bracket leak. — Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) March 14, 2016

I don’t excuse the NCAA in this, either, because they could have told CBS to knock it off and make it a half-hour show, or released it on their own terms using their many distribution channels. But no, they had sold the rights to CBS. So even though they should have announced it quickly and had analysis and interviews come after, they dragged it out. CBS may not have been able to sell as many advertisements, but they would have had the good faith of the fans and not been scooped by a person with a Twitter account.

Instead we sat around for two hours, and now the NCAA says they’re going to put resources towards investigating who leaked the bracket. It doesn’t matter who leaked it. What matters is the NCAA and CBS cared more about selling commercials than it did the people who support the game. And all so we could watch Charles Barkley futz around with a teleprompter.

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