March Madness Officially Has Its First Dumb Controversy: An Easter Pun

In reality, a miraculous comeback was all there was to talk about after Syracuse University's big win on Sunday. But, because we all can't just have nice things, a mini-controversy emerged from the game, too.

After Syracuse rode a late run past the University of Virginia all the way to the Final Four in the March Madness tournament, broadcaster Kevin Harlan made an allusion to Easter Sunday with this call.

Kevin Harlan's final call: "Back from the dead on Easter Sunday" pic.twitter.com/RQ5akmGzDS — Kenny Ducey (@KennyDucey) March 28, 2016

If anything, the biggest offense here is Harlan tried too hard to make the line work. For others, though, there was a problem.

If I were Kevin Harlan, I'd be getting my apology ready. Quick. — Mike Vaccaro (@MikeVacc) March 28, 2016

This is...a bit much, Kevin Harlan. https://t.co/Gvq8aZbUFP — Guy Benson (@guypbenson) March 28, 2016

If we all really want to play devil's advocate here, it's pretty clear what the gripe is. People who aren't religious might have problems with a religious topic being imposed on them, I suppose.

On the other hand, those who are religious, particularly Christians, might feel it's blasphemous to compare a holy occurrence to a basketball game.

OK, got it.

Still, there was really no reason to get up in arms over this. I mean, most of the prominent media figures who pointed out Harlan's line did so out of anticipation of outrage, rather than out of outrage itself (a sign of the times, if anything).

@t_wally8 They did, because many people do have a problem with what he said. I'm not one of them, though. — Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) March 28, 2016

@dhbrownsports Or making light of the most important day in the Christian calendar. Jump ball. — Mike Vaccaro (@MikeVacc) March 28, 2016

A joke, a pun, a play on words -- whatever you want to call the statement, it was pretty obvious what Harlan did. He juxtaposed the mere premise of a holiday next to the clear hyperbole of Syracuse "coming back from the dead."

There was no direct mention of any deity, nor was there necessarily any equating of the resurrection of Jesus to Syracuse's comeback.

There's nothing to see here, except maybe a few jokes.

All right. Now, we can all go home.