THE ETERNAL OPTIMISM OF BRACKETOLOGY

The anticipation is almost too much to handle for those of us who go crazy for the NCAA Mens Basketball Championship, known everywhere but Mars as "March Madness". Yes, I'm one of those guys that gets totally caught up in every one of the 36 games that lead up and through the three weeks of thrilling college basketball. And I play as many bracket contests as I can find. I don't (and won't) bore anyone about my research and hours of analysis of all of the matchups, annd my strategy for winning every year, but suffice to say, I love this time of year.

I don't think it's a coincidence that baseball's Spring Training season and March Madness and Little league baseball all start at around the same time. Despite any unusual temperature fluctuations outdoors,this is the Season Of Eternal Optimism, Fresh Starts and Anyone Can Win It All.

Buds are on the trees, green is poking up from the earth, and it's time to win something.

Bring it on.

POTUS AND ME

Well I finally have something in common with our Commander in Chief, The Big Kahuna, The Prez, Mr. POTUS himself.

We've picked the same NCAA Basketball Tournament bracket. And we're tied. Precisely.  We're in the 72.9% percentile of  winning brackets, which is tantamount to 37th places losers.  Our rank? 3,131,506.

I feel so proud.  Hail to the Chief.

UPSET CITY

We're not even more than a few hours into the NCAA Men's Tournament, and already a couple of huge upsets, with UAB eliminating heavily favored Iowa State, 60-59, and Georgia State  winning by a single point as well, bumping off 3rd seed Baylor, 57-56.  Even Notre Dame barely escaped with a wine against Northeaster, 69-65.Yeah, my bracket is likely ruined (I had  Baylor going to the Elite 8, so there ya go), but that's why this is the best sports tournament on earth.  Upset City can happen at any moment.  Wow.

MADNESS!

The gaps between posts here have been growing larger in the past two years, and I don't really have a good explanation, but this time of year always gets my attention and ruffles my feathers and gets me writing about my favorite sporting event:  the NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament, forever re-dubbed by CBS Sports as March Madness.

I am falling for every bracket contest out there, from those sponsored by local hoagie joints, to the more visible and popular bracket challenges from ESPN, CBS Sports (of course), P.C. Richard & Sons (the regional appliance retailer), and yes, that silly "Billion Dollar Challenge" from Quicken Loans and Yahoo Sports that promises to pay you $1 billion of Warren Buffett's money if you happen to fill out a perfect bracket.

I believe in Santa and the Easter Bunny, and I'm ready for the Zombie Apocalypse, too.

But I'll still fill out any and all brackets that I find.  I like the challenge, and lately, I've been pretty good at it. Even won a few things. Coupla TVs. Cash.  Gift cards. What good's a billion from a billionaire, if you don't at least try to win it, silly as it may be? Am I right, or am I right?

Good luck with YOUR brackets!

Down In Flames

I promised myself this year that I would low-key my March Madness brackets activity, and for the most part, I have.  I've entered 9 different bracket challenges this, contest with all sorts of prizes and awards. But after Thursday's and Friday's stunning upsets, there isn't going to me that much to talk about.

My brackets are in ruins.

But so are most of America's. Who would have EVER picked Harvard to upset New Mexico so stunningly? Or Wichita State to stomp all over Pittsburgh? Ole Miss taking out Wisconsin? Or Florida Gulf Coast University blowing the doors off Georgetown?  C'mon now. Nobody saw these coming.

So enjoy the Cinderellas and the Big Boys and see who's gonna topple another basketball icon.  You know they'll be a few more. You just know it.

As for me, I'm gonn na sxee how Far Temple and Lasalle can take themselves this year. I've got a good feeling about Lasalle. Even though I picked them to lose from the beginning.

MADNESS

The Madness has begun. And if, for some reason, you don't know what I'm talking about, just keep surfing. Something will attract your wandering eye eventually.


This year, I've filled out EIGHT March Madness brackets,simply because that's how many I found by noon on Thursday. I'm hoping to do somewhat better than our Commander-in-Chief (that's Barack Obama, if you're still not sure what's going on here), who I think picked a fairly safe bracket with few if any upsets or surprises.

Here is one of my brackets, on the CBS Sports website for the bracket games:


http://freebracketchallenge.1.mayhem.cbssports.com/brackets


We'll just see, now, won't we?

I LOVE this time of year.

THE RECKONING

My brackets are in ruins. All 9 of them. The Big East collapsed, claiming St. John's, Villanova, Notre Dame, Louisville, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Cincinnati, Penn State, even Syracuse. The underdogs were not dogged enough. Temple showed spunk but just ran out of luck. Two of my Final Four selections are gone. Only Duke and BYU remain and may still not disappoint me.

And I was doing so well, too. After Saturday, I was in the 92nd percentile of the ESPN.com Bracket Challenge, by far the most populated bracket game, with well over 5 million participants. As of last night I am in the middle of the 47th percentile, some 3.019 million back in the pack. According to ESPN last night, no participant has a perfect score after 3 rounds, so at least all of this year's players have tasted some defeat.

Yeah, a saving grace. That's what I'm telling myself. But when you're this far back in the pack, the view stays the same. Yech.

We're Talkin' BRACKETS. BRACKETS!

Yup, it's that time of year again, and I have gone bracket crazy. At this moment I think I've filled out 9 brackets for the Men's 2011 version of March Madness, the world's best tournament.

And the prizes are bigger than ever, from smartphones to iPads and other tablets to 55" Samsung HDTVs to a cool million of those American dollars . Here's where you, too, can test your skill at bracketology:



CBS Sports.com

ESPN

The Sporting News

Yahoo Sports

AOL Sports/Fanhouse

Slack's Hoagie Shack

The Trentonian

P.C. Richard & Sons

WFAN, NYC



This year, as you may have by now heard, it's 68 teams in the mix, and play begins tomorrow night (Tuesday), so get your picks in, pigeons!

I love this time of year.
How do you think you'll do?
Post your brackets, if you dare.

Sweet and Sour Sixteen

Well, by now almost everyone's March Madness brackets are in shambles. Except for the secretary in your office pool that picked her brackets using team names she liked.

According to ESPN, only .2 of one percent of the participants in their Bracket Challenge have Northern Iowa in the Sweet 16 and beyond, and they are most assuredly NI boosters or students. But you saw that upset coming a mile away, didn't you? Of course you did.

Cornell mowing down first Temple then Wisconsin, the first Ivy league team in the Sweet 16 in 31 years, when my alma mater, Penn, swept into the Final 4 for my senior year, the year of Magic Johnson (Michigan State) and Larry Bird (Indiana State) and Keven McDonald (Who?? He was Penn's star forward that year.). Butler hangs in there this year, tough as Bulldogs, as does St. Mary's, more than ready for their more than 15 minutes of fame.

At this point, with 16 teams left in the NCAA Mens Basketball Championship, there are so many likeable Davids AND Goliaths. Love to watch Cornell's aerial attack as much as Michigan State's grittiness, as much as John Wall doing anything for Kentucky, and as much as that quiet big man for St. Mary's, Omar Samhan.

But I'm tired of the Dukes and Kentuckys and Syracuses and Michigan States year after year. It's time to follow some new kids.

I'm watching Cornell.

BURN MY BRACKET

What an ugly day for some of us who love the Bracketology. Down in flames went my Thursday picks of Georgetown, Notre Dame, Marquette, UTEP, San Diego State, Richmond, Vanderbilt and Texas. And Villanova almost went down with them.

Maybe the worst first day I've had filling out the brackets since I began following the March Madness.

But that is exactly what makes the NCAA Mens' Basketball playoffs so irresistable. David vs. Goliath. Low seed vs. high seed. Buzzer beaters. That's why even after this debacle, I'll watch or listen to as many games as I can every day they play.

By the way, I was able to find President Obama's actual, handwritten completed 2010 bracket, and so far, he's done pretty well. On ESPN's Tournament Challenge, he's ranked 149,238 with a winning percentage of 96.7%.

I'm somewhere in the deep 4 million ranking. Ugh.

THE MARCH TO MADNESS

Yup, I'm one of them. One of the people who dig March Madness and really get into playing the bracketology game, filling them out wherever I find them. So, as a service to you, here are a few of my favorite bracket sites, each with their own set of fabulous prizes, world reknown and street cred wherever you roll.

CBS Sports has one of the most deeply detailed websites, with the CBSSports.com Bracket Challenge, and several of their sponsors offer you the chance to copy your brackets onto their websites to win prizes from them. Cool!

ESPN offers the most research-focused game with the ESPN Tournament Challenge, including a trifecta of assistants, such as the Bracket Predictor tool and Bracket Insider, both of which surely can't hurt.

Even Philadelphia area sandwichery Slack's Hoagie Shack gets into the Madness, with their own bracket game, "Tourney Time", with lotsa prizes and usually some free food offers for winning along the way. Winning food is good.

So when do we find out what President Obama's doing, bracket-wise? I'm taking aim at him this year.

Er, let me rephrase that......