It's Madness I tell you, Madness!!

March 13th, 2005

Okay, let's review my symptoms: constant checking of scores on espn.com, yelling obscenities at the TV followed immediately by cries of joy, wadding up napkins and fade-away-hook-shooting them into the wastebasket while saying "3 seconds left...he shoots...he scores!", an unhealthy obsession with the science of "bracketology"...I believe I may be afflicted with the illness commonly known as "March Madness".

I filled out a bracket at espn.com, and just like very other year, I believe that it is the winning bracket. Nevermind that last year I ended up ranked 643,000th. One of the groups I play in (Salt River Brass - http://www.saltriverbrass.com) started an office pool, so I entered my "infallible" bracket and paid my $2. There's over 50 people who entered, so after I win I'll get over $100.

Okay, so my brackets usually end up being a joke. I have two personality traits that cause my brackets to bust before even the 2nd round. 1) I cheer for underdogs. I think we all do. Everybody likes to see the unknown team filled with nobodies, with no endorsements, with no hype...beat the Goliath team who is supposed to win it all. We love Cinderella stories...they make us believe (at least for a few moments) that real life can sometimes feel like a movie. 2) I tend to be loyal to schools from my hometown, no matter how bad they are. One good example is UTEP. They never get past the first round, and I know they won't this year either...yet I still picked them to win two games and reach the Sweet 16. Why? Because if they actually DO win some games, I want to make sure that I share part of the glory. Hey, it could happen.

I won't share my bracket secrets with you here, because I don't want my picks stolen. But what are you waiting for! Fill out a bracket for a chance to win $10,000! (http://games.espn.go.com/tcmen/bracket/entry). If you don't normally follow NCAA basketball, this is a perfect way to make the games more interesting. You'll find that you'll really get into a game when there's money on the line.

To the batmobile!!