Let the Madness Begin!

Ever since I was a kid, March was the month to be excited about. It meant that spring was coming, maybe no more snow, warmer weather and it also meant that Thursdays through Sundays I'd watch basketball games with my father. It's funny to say that at the age of eight, my dad tricked me into liking college basketball. He did it by playing on the court with me and through this video game we used to beat each other with. (NCAA Basketball for Super NES...how 90s is that?!) I have this vivid memory of arguing with him about who got to be Maryland and who got to be Duke for the video game. Granted, I was maybe 9 years old at the time. Looking back, I find the argument slightly ironic. My father can smile that his tactics worked and made me a basketball fan and a fan of Maryland. (Please note that I didn't decide to attend UMD because of the Athletics. It was because of the journalism program, however, it is pretty rad to attend a school that gets national attention.) I wasn't obsessive about college hoops, however, until high school. Not to mention, it wasn't until my junior year of high school that I decided to try my hand at bracketology. In my advance biology class, my classmates and I did our own little pool. Really, we just did our brackets and whoever got it right got bragging rights for the rest of the school year. One of my classmates called bullshit on my bracket. Of course, he was a Duke fan (figures!). I had UMD winning the whole thing and it just so turns out that I was right! He hated that so much. Maybe my bracket wasn't exactly correct but I had guessed the champion correctly. Guessing the champion is what matters the most, right?

Unfortunately since 2002, my skills and the Terps' skills haven't really recovered. Keep in mind that I am referring to the men's team. My school's women's basketball team won the NCAA championship back in 2006, which was during my first year at UMD. It was cool seeing a riot near my dorm. And right now, it looks like we might just get it again this year! The Lady Terrapins are the Number 1 seed for the West. It's pretty cool to be able to proudly say that my school's women's team can make the men's team eat their own shorts. I will give the guys credit where it is due. So far in the NIT tournament, they are actually doing a good job and yes, this past season they did beat UNC at their home court. I just hope next year will be yet another return to the real tournament.

Back to my bracketology skills, 2005 and 2006 were bad years. I had WVU (my other favorite team) winning the whole thing. Looking back it seems like I jinxed the Mountaineers. Both times, the team made it all the way to the elite 8 and no further than that. In 2007 after a two year absence, my school actually made it into the tournament, but they were out by the second round. My only hope was Georgetown, and Ohio State ruined that one for me. Did I mention that I hated Florida for two years?

As you can tell, I am hoping that this year will be much better. On facebook, I did three brackets and on the Washington Post's website, I created two. I actually think maybe one from facebook is similar to my second bracket on the Post's special website. I tried following different schools of theory when it came to picking out the teams. I watched a like 2 hours worth of web videos from CBS Sports and ESPN. I also did all sorts of crazy reading about how to make picks. The most useful tool I found was this game simulator on ESPN's website. It's called a bracketcaster and what it does is it calculates and demonstrates all sorts of likelihoods and combinations of the games. My favorite web video about making a bracket was Tony Kornheiser's video for the Washington Post. His final pick will make music geeks everywhere crack a SMILE! (*cough* that's a hint *cough*) His bracket has some pretty smart ass remarks. I really loved his comment about the Mount St. Mary's/Coppin State game and how it should be played in Hagerstown, Maryland.

As for my brackets, I post on the Washington Post's website in hopes of winning some radtastic prizes. My first bracket was me trying to be somewhat sensible. One tip I read said to try to pick the teams with the highest seeds first round, second round is when to go for the upsets. Granted, I made that bracket before I talked to my father about USC vs. Kansas State. After thinking about what to do, I made a second bracket. Though the winner isn't very much different, the final four is! I get the feeling that Georgetown is going to go all the way because Hibbert is graduating. I swear, however, if UMBC beats them tomorrow, I am going to puke. My dad and I have a feeling UMBC (University of Maryland Baltimore County aka not my school) will give Georgetown a tough run for their game. Hopefully, the Hoyas won't disappoint tomorrow. If they do, I'll lose the WMUC pool. Not to mention, at least half of the population of DC will be in a bad mood.

So now the ball is in your court (yeah I had to do that pun), what does your bracket look like? Any serious upsets planned?

On more thing..the Post is doing their annual Beer Madness competition, where people vote for their favorite beers. My favorite is actually in the running still! Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat was a beer that my friend Katie introduced to me last summer. It's pretty awesome on tap. Tastes kind of like Wheaties. (Beer for Breakfast, anyone?) Actually, my favorite beer by Leinenkugel is their Berry Weiss. But either way, this is something worth checking out.

Well in less than 12 hours, I'll be sitting on the sofa, eating pizza and watching a ton of games. Not to mention, maybe reading Hemingway in between commercials...a girl's got to get her homework done somehow. All I have to say is that March Madness is now in full effect.

Game On,
Megan

PS- I wanted to post a Madness music video but I couldn't find anything decent. So instead, I will leave you all with a video of a song that Madness could've done back in 1981. And besides, aren't we all a little obsessive about Vampire Weekend? I know that I am.