For The Record: March Madness Makes Me Mad

After a bit of a layoff, we're back. I'd make up some ridiculously crazy story about how I went on vacation for Spring Break (regardless of the fact that I'm no longer a collegiate scholar though I still drink like one) and then was kidnapped after having passed out on the beach via a mojito induced temporary coma, but I figured you probably wouldn't believe that. No, family and friends were in town and I figured I deserved a bit of a vacation anyway. Ok, I didn't but whatever. I'm back and to make up for the lapse I'm going to post a short column every day this week. Here we go!

What is up with March Madness? I cannot figure this damn thing out. Every year I convince myself that I've picked the right sleepers, the right George Masons if you will. And every year I manage to pick incorrectly. Or if I do pick a couple upsets right (Wichita State last year, VCU this year) I end up getting screwed on one of my Final Four picks and the entire bracket goes to shit.

The trick is get out of the first two rounds with at least 12 of your Sweet 16 still alive and all of your Elite 8. I didn't manage to do that this year. This year I leave the second round with only half of my Sweet 16 intact and that includes only six of my Elite 8, three of my Final Four and my national runner-up. Thanks Wisconsin!

It wasn't all bad though. The very first day of the tournament (which should be a national holiday) produced the best thing of the entire tournament including whatever transpires the rest of the way: Duke lost in the first round...to a mid-major school! Oh yea, and I picked it. Virginia Commonwealth sent the Blue Devils packing and I couldn't have been happier. I threw a magazine clear across the room in celebration when it happened. I'm sorry Brody's Men's Health.

You either love Duke or you hate them. Most people hate them. Well, basically if you didn't go to Duke you hate them. My hatred for Duke started when I was but a wee lad. UConn was playing Duke in the Elite 8 and were up by two with just about a second to play. Inbounds pass to Christian Laettner who throws up a three from the wing and swishes it home as time expires sending my beloved Huskies home. This was 1990 and it was really the first time UConn was good at basketball. The next season Duke sent the Huskies packing again. On top of this, my favorite basketball player of all time is Michael Jordan. Where did the Bulls star go to school? The University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. If you know anything about college basketball you know UNC and Duke are fierce rivals. There are only a handful of rivalries that are in the same ballpark intensity wise. So naturally I have a hatred for this school.

So Coach K, even though I won't be making it to the Bracketology finals this year, neither will you. And I will gladly agree to never win it if Duke never does either. See, I can pull the positive out of a negative!