Friday, March 17, 2006
Brackets for Dummies
I've never been involved in an NCAA tournament bracket before, and would not be now were it not for the persistance of the bro-in-law, a character ye readers of reb sox might be familiar with. He started this mock tourney and named it after my familiy, despite the fact that we know absolutely nothing about college basketball. After begging me & the sis to get involved, he put us up for persuading other members of our family, and anyone else we could scrape up.
As you might already know, I was able to snag Jere and Chan into our lair. I also convinced my youngest sis & her boyfriend, along with my dad, who was a surprisingly hard sell. My family members were most concerned with their lack of knowledge in the area of college basketball, and afraid they would become a laughingstock in this tournament. Of course I told them that none of us know anything, and the less you know, the better off you would be. Well since those three are sitting in the bottom third of our standings right now, I guess I may have been a little off in my statement. Either that or they made shitty pics on purpose; believe me, this is always a possibility in my family. Despite their poor performance, I hope they are finding out what the sis & I have discovered: this is fun!
Picking a bracket is not about thinking you know who will win... rather it's like the nickel bets we used to make at Lee Speedway when we were kids: picking for the simple fun of caring about the outcome. There was one sister I was unable to bully into involvement, and I am sad for her. It reminds me of the time this same sister refused to go to Water Country with us because she didn't want to be seen in her bathing suit. Now if you've ever been to Water Country, or any other water park for that matter, you know that people are way too busy having fun on water slides to care how you look - and also no matter how bad you look, there's going to be others there who are worse. When we got back to our grandmother's at the end of that day, sun-burnt and exhausted but still grinning form ear to ear, our sister regretted having stayed home. I'm sorry she didn't join our tourney, and I hope she gets the same feeling again - because life is too short to worry about how you look to other people. It's not about where you land in the standings at the end, unless, of course, you have a lot more riding on it than our silly $3 bet. The most fun is always in the ride itself - which is exactly what I used to say about being a red sox fan before the big win, and it's still as true as ever.
So if you've never done a bracket before, try it next year. There's a reason they call it March Madness, and it's not because all these people actually care about college basketball.
As you might already know, I was able to snag Jere and Chan into our lair. I also convinced my youngest sis & her boyfriend, along with my dad, who was a surprisingly hard sell. My family members were most concerned with their lack of knowledge in the area of college basketball, and afraid they would become a laughingstock in this tournament. Of course I told them that none of us know anything, and the less you know, the better off you would be. Well since those three are sitting in the bottom third of our standings right now, I guess I may have been a little off in my statement. Either that or they made shitty pics on purpose; believe me, this is always a possibility in my family. Despite their poor performance, I hope they are finding out what the sis & I have discovered: this is fun!
Picking a bracket is not about thinking you know who will win... rather it's like the nickel bets we used to make at Lee Speedway when we were kids: picking for the simple fun of caring about the outcome. There was one sister I was unable to bully into involvement, and I am sad for her. It reminds me of the time this same sister refused to go to Water Country with us because she didn't want to be seen in her bathing suit. Now if you've ever been to Water Country, or any other water park for that matter, you know that people are way too busy having fun on water slides to care how you look - and also no matter how bad you look, there's going to be others there who are worse. When we got back to our grandmother's at the end of that day, sun-burnt and exhausted but still grinning form ear to ear, our sister regretted having stayed home. I'm sorry she didn't join our tourney, and I hope she gets the same feeling again - because life is too short to worry about how you look to other people. It's not about where you land in the standings at the end, unless, of course, you have a lot more riding on it than our silly $3 bet. The most fun is always in the ride itself - which is exactly what I used to say about being a red sox fan before the big win, and it's still as true as ever.
So if you've never done a bracket before, try it next year. There's a reason they call it March Madness, and it's not because all these people actually care about college basketball.
# posted by Rebecca @ 12:34 PM 
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As long as UCONN is near the top, I find I cannot predict anything about their chances, for fear that it ultimately woud be my fault for their failure. So I remain rooting for you in this venture, but unable to participate. And that's tough for me. Bye for now.
But, as today (Sat.) dawns, UCONN might have been better off if I HAD jinxed them. Scary stuff yesterday being down by 12 with 10 minutes to go in the game, and to a 16 seed. CBS even switched the regional coverage to total national when it looked like as big an upset as our comeback against the Skanks was brewing. Phew!
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