Perfect Storm

As most of you know I'm a very big NFL fan. But that is usually limited to my own team and when they don't do well, well its no fun. As much as I love football my favorite sports event of the year started today at 12:30. Of course its more than a sports event now, its more of a cultural phenomenon the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament - or March Madness - as they won't let you call it unless you pay them. Millions of people fill out office pools and try to guess the winner of every game. The second day of this years tournament happens to be tomorrow- Friday, March 17th St. Patricks Day. Now the first Friday of the tournament is always a big night out- nothing to do the next day but watch more games so the bars are packed and the mood is convivial. Adding St Patricks Day to this is a party (or a fight) waiting to happen. The Tournament is always about this time of year but I can't remember St. Patricks Day being so perfectly planned before. I predict a lot of losing pool players crying in their green beer. I also predict a lot of green vomit - but that's a little later.

For several years now I've been in a pool run by a guy I went to college with. Tom and his wife Denise get everyone they know from every school they ever attended and every job they ever had and then they get the relatives of those people to play too. They are VERY big basketball fans and their enthusiasm is infectious even showing through their e-mails. A bunch of us always went to the home basketball games back in college at American U. (Motto: Still not in the Tournament) Tom was generally a calm, fairly quiet guy but he was crazy at the games - we would try to sit behind the opponents bench and yell horrible stuff at the coaches and players (poor Lefty Drisell) I even remember a few times when players would acutually look up to see who was yelling at them. Playing the pool is one of the few times I am in touch with some old friends from AU. Its our once a year on-line reunion and fight for basketball supremacy. Some people are extremely serious about their picks and some use a system like "Which team has the prettier Uniform" or "Which school has the better Weather?" - Tom calls these the "nut job pickers" I'm kind of in between the two types. I'm part research and part guessing. One year I used what I called the "Weighted hat method" I know you want an explanation of that, but it was pretty complicated so forget it. The Hat beat many real people that year.

The tournament brings out many passions for and against different teams and coaches especially. Denise hates the slick loooking coaches with the perfect hair. She likes the short players and ones with good nicknames. Almost everyone hates Duke but half of them pick them to win every year anyway. Duke is like the Yankees of college basketball - you would like them to lose in the most painful way possible - unless it messes up your pool.

Betting on every game makes you care about Tennesee Vs Winthrop or Xavier Vs Gonzaga. You can see how people become degenerate gamblers with action like this - its very compelling and frustrating at the same time. You forget the teams you bet on that win by one point and remember the upset pick you had that almost pulled it off. Its a made for TV spectacle and CBS knows what they're doing. They bounce you back and forth to the good games - almost never pissing me off. Most of the games seem to go right down to the wire. Drama of the highest magnitude. The NBA pales in comparison. I've got to go check the scores now. Tom and Denise - don't forget to feed your kids this year.