Preparing for March Madness

I love this time of year with all the college basketball that is going on. I am a North Carolina Tar Heels fan and loved the last few seasons and have suffered with Roy Williams and his crew this year. I grew up in MO have been a Missouri fan but my heart is with Carolina.

March Madness has changed though. Back in the day before every team was overanalyzed by every computer in the world, you had to go on what little info you had on teams and make out your bracket w/o the help of every ranking, expert, ESPN ex-coach, ex-player analyst. I miss those days. I miss the days of looking at the tournament bracket and just going with what YOU know, not what every expert tells you you ought to know in filling out your bracket.

I gotta tell you, I do not like taking the bracket, run it through some stupid research program on my computer and then they tell me which teams I should choose. I don't care about the Alex and Dewayne scales, Rivals.com, ESPNs Digger Phelps and "Baby" Dick Vitale or even what the Richter scale has to say about this year's tourney. Let me look at the list, go with my gut and pick 'em. In fact, that is what I will do. I get the privilege of having lunch w/ my buds Larry, Rick, Sid and Pat next Weds before the Big Dance starts and we will talk trash. We will have fun. Some of them will have researched the dog out of every ranking, scale, etc. I will not. My bracket is about who I think will win. RPI, DUI and IOU are not for me. I will get about half my bracket correct if I hold true to form. I will have 3-4 of the final four on my bracket. And . . . if I don't, I will still sleep at night. I will still love the game, because the game is what it is all about. College kids (18-22 year olds) playing a game that their coaches will strategize, coach, encourage, and scold ad nauseum. One team will come out on top. Last year it was my beloved Tar Heels. This year it could be Syracuse, Kansas, Kentucky, or even Dook. Of those four, I could applaud Syracuse, stomach Kansas and would be disgusted if Kentucky or Dook won. Only because I do not like those programs. Love the game tho. And respect Coach K even though I do not like his school. (Must be the Tar Heel thing).