Volume 1, Issue 5
Later today (or currently, depending on when you're reading this) the scene will be the same at countless water holes around the country. Grown men will be yelling, giving high fives and firing off expletives at 20 year old college students from places they didn't know existed until they filled out their brackets earlier in the week. I offer you one plea as the NCAA tournament comes around again: chill out.
There are 64 teams in the tournament. For the millions that fill out a bracket each year that's 1/64 chance of picking the winner, or a 15% chance you randomly pick the winner. Now of course all teams aren't equal (Pittsburgh against East Tennessee State?) but technically everyone has the same amount of a shot at winning.
And no one wants to hear you at the bar talking about how you picked Stephen F. Austin as your upset pick but those damn Syracuse Orange somehow squeaked past them, and don't you think the ref was calling the game for Syracuse? No Syracuse is a much better team and won for a reason. Then the bartender tells the guy his $40 tab on $1.50 beer night needs to be paid.
I don't want to forgot the braggadocios guys who made all the right picks all day and no one else in the whole wide world saw them coming. "Hey you watching this one buddy? UConn's up 25 on Chattanooga, and I got them making the elite 8. Look's I can really pick 'em uh?" Yeah you picked a team that was ranked #1 three times in the season and thought they'd make it to the final 8 teams in the country, sure no one else has them. "Well I liked the Illini's D, but I just felt they wouldn't be able to stay with the upbeat offense of Western Kentucky so I went with my gut and went upset for the Hilltoppers and now I'm leading one of my 13 online brackets." Great that maybe because every single expert had U of I on upset watch, but nah, you're just such a student of the game. And it isn't ballsy to pick a 9 over an 8 as some stranger told me at a bar last year.
The point I'm trying to get across is enjoy this time of the year. The next three weekends are filled with 63 college basketball games, as well as Opening Day of baseball at the very end. But that's the main point, enjoy it. If Wisconsin knocks off your special elite 8 pick Florida State don't let it ruin your night. Hope your other teams pan out, and even if those suck also, say screw it and just enjoy the games.
I'm mainly talking to those of my ilk who aren't the biggest followers of college basketball. I watched the conference tournaments last week and know a little bit throughout the season by reading Sports Illustrated. I entered three pools, two for free online and one at work for $10. If I lose oh well, it's just a bucket of beer on that $1.50 beer night at the bar I was talking about. If I win...well that $1.50 beer night will be a long one.
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