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.

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 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.

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......

BRACKETOLOGY, Part 1

Down in flames.


I was quite optimistic after Thursday night's end of play, because at that time, I was PERFECT.

It only took three more days of tournament play to shatter that bubble of confidence. By end of play tonight, I'm below the middle of the pack:


Rich Pawlak's MasterBlast

PTS 460

PCT(%) 43.69%

RNK 2607257

PPR 1240


And yes, that third column, is RANK, and my ranking on ESPN's Bracket Challenge, one of seven brackets I'm playing, has me at 2,607,257, which 439,967 slots behind President Obama. Over 5 MILLION people are playing on the ESPN website. Unbelievable.