Navigating the Madness

It’s time for that most wonderful time of the year again boys and girls…no I’m not talking about Christmas! Even better! Mid-March has arrived and that means that the Madness has officially begun.

Tomorrow, I will sit in front of the TV from the first game at 9:45 till the last game at 9! Don’t think it’s possible? Well you are overlooking my TV-watching powers. I have the local pizza place on speed dial, which takes care of lunch and dinner, and have cleared out my day of any messy entanglements (aka work). As far as I’m concerned the opening day of March Madness is a national holiday and I am intent on treating it like one.

For those of you who are slightly more sane than I am when it comes to March Madness (aka, everyone), I have devised a quick cheat sheet concerning the upcoming tournament.

1) Filling out your bracket – Underdog Teams are fun, but they won’t win you a bracket. I know you always hear that the person who always wins the bracket has no idea what is going on, but trust me. The person who wins will not have a final four Lehigh, Temple, Old Dominion and Gonzaga. If you want to be different, stick to picking the 3 and 4 seeds to win the whole thing.

2) First Round Games that are a must see:
. a) Old Dominion vs. Notre Dame: Thursday at 9:45 am pacific; I have Notre Dame making it to the sweet sixteen, but unfortunately they got matched up against a team that can easily send them packing yet again in the first round.
. b) Oklahoma St vs. Georgia Tech: Friday at 4:15 pm pacific; if you love the NBA, watch this game. More than a few “diaper dandies” as Dickie V would say.
. c) Tennessee vs. San Diego St: Thursday at 6:45 pm pacific; my upset pick of the first two days!

3) Have food on standby: Plenty of snacks are necessary to keep up the energy. Twelve hours is a long time to concentrate on basketball games, and you guys don’t have the stamina that I have built up over my 24 years of hardcore sports watching.

4) Dismiss your Bracket Quickly: I always feel bad for those people who can’t appreciate a good upset. Honestly, unless you have an interest in the game other than getting one more meaningless point in a bracket you aren’t going to win, go for the upset. Just much more arresting television and even better, you’ll feel like you’ve been part of that once in a lifetime upset.

In the words of Dickie V, “March Madness…It’s awesome Baby!” So sit back and enjoy!!