March Madness

[Lone Star Canary]

Everyone got their brackets completed?  No?

Me neither.

NCAA hoops has been on the decline for awhile.  The best talent goes the one-and-done route before going to the NBA draft, so you don't have four-year starters like back in the day.  Combine this with the paradox of gross commercial revenues for the NCAA (I think the tournament provides something like 75% of the NCAA's operating budget) member teams, and their coaches, while simultaneously providing the true labor next to nothing (John Oliver's rant last week totally nailed it),and it's no wonder folks aren't as interested as they used to be.  My school got a 3 seed in their bracket... probably deserved a 4-5 seed, but I don't expect them to get past the Sweet 16.  They will probably be the only thing I follow unless the media manage to interest me in whatever Cinderella team they decide to overhype this year.

But if you're wondering why we don't get much done over here in the USA for the next month, this is why.

 

[Lone Star Canary]

Okay... with the tournament all done I can come out and say I spent about 3 minutes on my bracket this year... and won.  It's a small office pool with about 20 people, give or take... $5 buy in and I won about $90.  It wasn't a particularly enlightened or aggressive set.  I picked mostly favorites the first two rounds - no 12-16 seed underdogs in the first round to speak of... all 1 seeds in my final four (got three of them).  Had a few upsets picked here and there (#7 Michigan State over #3 Oklahoma, for example) in middle rounds, but took Kentucky to win it all, like 75% of the pool.  No one had Duke but we had a few folks take Wisconsin due to family connections, which meant I had to root for Duke in the final.

But all in all, y'all didn't miss much.