When the 2011 version of the NCAA Men's Basketball Division I tournament begins in a few weeks, it will have a new format, new marketing partners and new media destinations.

Maybe it was coincidence, but the fact that AOL announced its acquisition of The Huffington Post at midnight ET after the Super Bowl made me think the deal announcement had been timed to compete with water cooler chatter the next morning in offices around the country. Okay, maybe just offices in New York, Los Angeles and Silicon Valley, but it did indeed compete for airtime versus the Packers win over the Steelers.

In this sound byte society that we live in, many will embrace flawed methodologies to proclaim victory. But unlike a single football game or the ads within it, victory can't be attributable to a singular 30-second increment. Rather, a championship is the result of a carefully planned, multi-faceted and consistently analyzed campaign. Effective and regular brand perception tracking within a sponsor-blind and natural environment can help sports marketers and property holders know the real score.

Look for ads focused on the consumers and America, with a patriotic feel and/or "green" theme. But with a potential NFL lockout looming, maybe these companies think their Super Bowl ads are worth the price while pro football is still around.

Given a built-in audience of 90-100 million, most companies might feel secure in the knowledge that their message on Super Bowl Sunday would have an impact. They would be right, but that impact is not always the one they might want.

As I drove through downtown Seattle, I noticed the Seahawks banners and the "12th" man placards -- as well as the 12th man flag flying atop the Space Needle. Of course, every bar was decked out in Seahawk cheer. It reminded me what a powerful community driver sports can be -- at least offline.

I've always been a fan of the sitcom "Seinfeld." And while many of us can recount numerous poignant observations about "nothing" that emanated from the series, one of my favorites was Jerry's comment that at sporting events one is really just "rooting for a shirt."

As someone who has been involved with selling and buying sponsorships for about 20 years now, a couple of recent lawsuits involving sponsors and sports Leagues have struck me as, well, just plain nuts. In the first, Anheuser-Busch, the "Official Beer" sponsor for some 30 years, is suing Major League Baseball.