It's officially here...that most sacred time of the year. That time when the world stands still for 19 days. You guessed it...March Madness is upon us! Being from Kentucky, college basketball is GOD in the month of March. In true Kentuckian fashion, I am pulling out my University of Kentucky sweatshirts and supporting our Big Blue Nation. Go Cats!
In the next few days, I will be wracking my brain trying to put together the perfect bracket. I will be perusing websites that I rarely visit with names like ESPN.com, NCAA.com, and sportsillustrated.com. I will be reading the "expert" projections. I will be delving into rankings and scores and statistics. In the end, I will go with my gut. I will excitedly fill out my bracket, absolutely certain that I have picked THE winning teams...certain that I have defied the odds and picked every single game correctly. I will hand over my 20 bucks. I will play out in my mind exactly how I will be spending that $160 jackpot when I inevitably win it.
As the days progress, I will dutifully watch every single game, highlighting the ones predicted correctly on the clipboard where I keep everyone's brackets for quick comparisons. I will sleep with that clipboard on my nightstand. Being in charge of our bracket challenge, I will email or call everyone at the end of each day to let them know the current rankings. Who is in the lead? Who is coming up the rear? I will start out strong, typically in the lead after the first round. By the time we get to the Sweet 16, my lead will begin waning. I will employ higher math to determine exactly how many games I need to have guessed correctly to overcome the leader and win the challenge. I will cheer for teams that I did not pick and do not like simply because they will improve my overall chance of winning. I will bite my fingernails down to mere nubs. By the time we get to the Final Four, I will come to the realization that it is mathematically impossible for me to take home the jackpot. I will lose interest quickly after that...especially considering that the University of Kentucky will have disappointed and not made it to the Elite Eight. In the end, I won't even watch the championship game. I will read the next day about who won and will unceremoniously hand over the jackpot, including my wasted $20, to the winner. Every year it is the same...an exercise in futility. March Madness! You gotta love it!
In the next few days, I will be wracking my brain trying to put together the perfect bracket. I will be perusing websites that I rarely visit with names like ESPN.com, NCAA.com, and sportsillustrated.com. I will be reading the "expert" projections. I will be delving into rankings and scores and statistics. In the end, I will go with my gut. I will excitedly fill out my bracket, absolutely certain that I have picked THE winning teams...certain that I have defied the odds and picked every single game correctly. I will hand over my 20 bucks. I will play out in my mind exactly how I will be spending that $160 jackpot when I inevitably win it.
As the days progress, I will dutifully watch every single game, highlighting the ones predicted correctly on the clipboard where I keep everyone's brackets for quick comparisons. I will sleep with that clipboard on my nightstand. Being in charge of our bracket challenge, I will email or call everyone at the end of each day to let them know the current rankings. Who is in the lead? Who is coming up the rear? I will start out strong, typically in the lead after the first round. By the time we get to the Sweet 16, my lead will begin waning. I will employ higher math to determine exactly how many games I need to have guessed correctly to overcome the leader and win the challenge. I will cheer for teams that I did not pick and do not like simply because they will improve my overall chance of winning. I will bite my fingernails down to mere nubs. By the time we get to the Final Four, I will come to the realization that it is mathematically impossible for me to take home the jackpot. I will lose interest quickly after that...especially considering that the University of Kentucky will have disappointed and not made it to the Elite Eight. In the end, I won't even watch the championship game. I will read the next day about who won and will unceremoniously hand over the jackpot, including my wasted $20, to the winner. Every year it is the same...an exercise in futility. March Madness! You gotta love it!
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