‘Maddening March’ in full swing
Well, is everyone prepared and ready to go?
Yes, I speak of 鈥渢he third month of the year (named for the Roman god of war) insanity.鈥� (I speak of the NCAA Division I Men鈥檚 Basketball Tournament in this manner lest I invoke some sort of trademark infringement. Heavens knows this fine piece of opinionated writing is not worth any type of fine!)
Well, I鈥檝e come up with a new term for the athletic event that costs the United States billions of dollars in lost productivity and worthless brackets. Now, I haven鈥檛 trademarked this yet, so no stealin鈥�, but I will refer to this time of the year as 鈥淢addening March.鈥�
Now, Maddening March for me began a week before most of the tournaments began play.
(Cut to fade out as the memory returns 鈥� )
My March began, as I suspect did many of yours, with a more-than-saturating rain causing the basement of the family homestead to cry 鈥渘o mas,鈥� as it took on water like the Titanic. Then a harrowing drive home from the office later that evening through a dangerous amalgamation of rain, wet snow, ice and freezing temperatures.
The maddening continued the next morning with the removal of eight or so inches of wet snow over a slushy underlay. (Though, honestly since I wasn鈥檛 driving around in it, I actually didn鈥檛 mind snow removal. Doing so was a great calorie burner!)
Now, I鈥檝e calmed down and lo-and-behold the men鈥檚 Division I basketball tournament 鈥� and the accompanying bracket 鈥� is upon me, further maddening my March.
I鈥檓 just not a good prognosticator, and rarely have been where 鈥渂racketology鈥� is concerned.
But, I do have a few ideas about the approaching tournament:
A, The University of Pittsburgh Panthers won鈥檛 have the opportunity to break your heart 鈥� and bracket 鈥� this year. But, West Virginia remains, so be wary.
B, The only opinion on 鈥渂racketology鈥� that matters this weekend is the one emanating from the hotel room in Indianapolis because those folks, and those folks alone, decide the fate of the 68 teams with a chance to win a national title.
C, The 鈥渃ommittee鈥� should seed teams in the same manner the U.S. Open, Wimbledon or the other tennis Grand Slam tournaments do. The best team, the team most likely to win the title, should be No. 1, the second, No. 2, and so on until they get to No. 16. Once they do that, then just fill in the blanks. So, if Kentucky meets Wisconsin in the Elite 8 or Louisville or Kansas in the Sweet 16, the Wildcats just need to play better. I鈥檓 still befuddled how teams in the No. 12 seed have to play in, while teams playing a No. 1 seed don鈥檛 need to. If teams are considered to be amongst the finest 16 teams in the land, they shouldn鈥檛 have to play two games to make it into the Round of 32.
D, Robert Morris men鈥檚 basketball coach Andrew Toole is far younger looking than 34, but if the Colonials keep playing like they did in the waning minutes of the NEC title game against St. Francis (Brooklyn) Toole will quickly gain years.
E, I鈥檓 no fashionista, but I鈥檓 not feeling the Louisville 鈥渃ummerbund鈥� uniform look.
So, all this takes me to my bracket preparation, further complicated since my mother, Mary Louise Downey, is the reigning extended family champion. Satisfied in the past with just outdoing her grandsons, Mom is now under the gun to prove last year was no fluke.
I have no such illusions of grandeur, but it would be nice to get at least 3-of-4 of the Final Four and say five or six of the Elite 8 for a change in nearly 30 years of bracket filling.
I wish you all well with your bracket (and any dicey weather conditions) as Maddening March gets into full swing.聽
(And, Kentucky getting through to the Final Four is a pretty safe bet.)