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!

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.

Bracketology, Pt. 2

Now we're sinking like a stone. And ironically doing better.

So far, with just the North Carolina-Oklahoma game winner to be determined (NC is ahead at the half, 32-23), all of my Final Four picks have gone down to defeat; no Memphis, no Pittsburgh, and sweet Jesus, no Louisville! And of course I picked THEM to win it all. Living in the Philadelphia area, I'm happy for Villanova, but I only now wish I'd picked them!

In the twist of irony that assures me that many many others have far far worse brackets than mine, my ranking and winning percentage on ESPN.com bracket contest has actually improved dramatically:

Rich Pawlak's MasterBlast

PTS 740

PCT(%) 63.41%

RNK 1694254

PPR 80


Prior to last night's games, I had been in the middle of the pack (with over 5.5 MILLION people playing's ESPN.com's bracket contest, with a winning percentage below 50%. Go figger. President Obama is doing even worse, nearly in 3 millionth place in the pack, with a 35.5% winning percentage. We had virtually the same Final Four picks, save one, and that is the very winner of the remaining game. He picked Carolina for the final slot, and to win it all. I've picked Oklahoma. Fingers crossed. OU is down by 12 as I write this.