March Madness

It was Albert Einstein who said, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Obviously, old Albert was familiar with the annual fiasco that is my entry into the office NCAA Basketball Pool.

Even if you're not a college basketball fan, you're undoubtedly familiar with the tournament, the big dance, March Madness, or whatever other name you give it in your neck of the woods. And, if you're like me, there's an annual office pool that makes the rounds the week before the tournament starts. And, if you're like me, you simply can't resist the temptation of trying, just one more time, to beat Frankie from the mail room in picking the tournament winner.

It's only $10 bucks (or maybe even five in your office). And all you've got to do is pick a few basketball games. So every year, I pull out a ten spot, fill out my bracket, turn it in and, by the end of the first weekend, watch my dreams of becoming a hundred-aire crash and burn along with the dreams of teams like Syracuse and Kansas (this year's victims of astonishing upsets).

Oh, sure, I pick upsets, too. I just never pick the ones that actually occur. I try picking conservative upsets, like Pitt, a number 9 seed, over Pacific, a number 8 seed. Then, I watch Pacific absolutely blow out Pitt. Nice pick, especially since I've got Pitt winning another three games.

I do pick riskier upsets. This year, one of my riskiest picks was Syracuse upsetting Duke in the fourth round. Of course, it would help if Syracuse actually got out of the first round to make this prediction come true. However, a 13 seed (Vermont) upset the 4th seeded Orangemen. I never cease to amaze myself at how terribly bad I am at prognostication. Dick Vitale has nothing to fear from me.

Well, I've still got three of my final four picks alive for this year's tournament. I guess I've still got a reason to watch. However, I just received this year's standings after the first weekend. There are 115 entrants in my office's pool this year. Where am I in the standings? Well, let's just say that I'm in that section of the standings that make the top 90% of the standings possible.

Ah, well. There's always next year.

~~