LET THE MADNESS BEGIN!

Its Sunday night, I’m kicking back with the roommates watching the selection show for the NCAA tournament and the roommates and I start adding our own criticism, comments, questioning, "expert opinions," and just any reason too take a shot at one another. After the two hour special, some friendly banter, and Dave (my roommate) talk about his alma mater Purdue for the last 5 hours, it was time to open up my laptop and take a closer look at the bracket for myself.

Anyone who watches college basketball and more specifically March Madness appreciates the excitement this tournament brings. Its young men busting their asses all year for the chance to play in March and for most of them it’s the "biggest" game they will ever play in. Not sure if most agree, but watching a college game brings a level of intensity a NBA game just doesn’t have, or at least until the 4th quarter. I am sure we could debate back and forth about college and the NBA, but as Dickey V would say… "It’s March Baby!" Which means, bracket time! I could break down each region, with the best teams, the best players, who’s hot, who’s not, who’s primed for a big upset, which team has the best coach, etc… But let’s face it, there is no right or wrong way to fill this damn bracket out, but everyone does! Everyone enters a work pool, a family/friends pool, a fantasy draft of players, or even a league of 8 participants who draft for all 64 teams in 8 rounds.
Since you don’t have all day to read a break down of each game, nor do I have the time, here are some things that will for sure happen over the next few weekends...

• Someone will fill out a bracket within 5 minutes


• Someone will fill out the bracket starting with their NCAA Championship first, and work backwards


• Someone will take 3 friggin days to fill it out the bracket, because they are busy breaking down teams, conferences, injuries, seeding, who they play, where they play, how many seniors they have, how many offensive rebounds they grab a game (come on people, second chance points), and every stat imaginable, all because they have nothing better to do. (I know, seriously those guys are losers)


• You’ll enter at least 1 pool


• Some chick, whether she’s a friend, or co-worker will fill out a bracket in the same pool as you and do better than you because she likes the colors of their uniforms or because one of the guys on the team is "Hot!"


• You’ll get pissed at this chick, because she doesn’t know anything about sports as you spent 3 days breaking down the bracket


• Someone will throw their bracket away after the first day, because quite frankly, they had no idea what they were doing


• Someone will miss work Thursday and/or Friday to stay home and watch the games (these people are awesome)


• Someone will take a half day to go home and watch the games (these people are not as awesome,… but still awesome)


• Someone will find time during the day to watch games, either a TV in the office, or logging onto CBS Sportsline to watch the games online


• You’ll fill out a bracket against a loved one, thinking you’ll win because you follow college basketball and will lose…. again…. for the 5th year in a row


• You’ll witness a an upset that you never saw coming


• You’ll witness an upset you predicted on your bracket


• You’ll witness a last second shot, which will excite you, or piss you off! Not because you love the school, or have any affiliation with them, but it will either make or break your bracket


• Someone will pick all 4, final four teams but will pick the wrong championship game


• Someone will pick all 4, final four teams, and will pick the championship game, and the winner


• You’ll find the game(s) Gus Johnson is announcing and you will listening intently, because is by far is the best announcer in town (and by town, I mean in the country)


• You should watch Oklahoma because Blake Griffin is absolutely amazing and is by far the best player in college


• You should watch and/or respect Tyler Hansbrough of the Tar Heels (perhaps being biased as I am a Carolina fan) no one works harder than he does; as he is what’s great about college basketball. He returned for his senior season, as he hopes to lead the Heels to a National title


• You should at some point in your life, attend the opening round games in the city closest to you… The Atmosphere is like nothing else


• Do not forget about Baseball. I know spring training is still going on, but April 6, Championship Night, is still opening day for a lot of MLB teams.


• Picking the winner – Avg. Margin of victory 10 + points; 10 game winning streak during the regular season; 20 out of the last 21 Title winners have had 2 players play in the NBA (that eliminates a lot of teams)
  

Sit back, relax, and enjoy some of the most exciting basketball games you’ll witness all year! There will be cursing at your TV, cursing at your bracket, cursing yourself for crossing out Utah St, as they go on to beat Marquette.

Championship Game - Memphis v UNC
Winner - UNC