March Madness/Sadness/Gladness

Last Thursday afternoon I was pretty pumped, being that it was only a few hours away from the beginning of another "March Madness" In fact, I was so giddy I even came up with this ridiculous Facebook post:

It's back! That magnetic Madness that manifests magnificently in the month of March (mainly).

The madness, indeed. To make it even madder, for the last few years my dad and I have had a "pool", and this year my mom entered too! The way my dad sets it up is cool: You go round by round, rather than picking everything all at once. I like this a lot, since you can watch and get a feel for things as they go along...

Now historically (if that can be said of 3 years), I've always had the most difficulty picking the first 32 games. So this year, in my quest to WIN the $15 prize, I decided to quietly enlist some guidance. And so I Googled my way to this web page: http://www.midwestsportsfans.com/2011/03/march-madness-2011-bracket-pred...

Here, the writer uses a variety of indicators to come up with a way of predicting this madness.  It's pretty clever, and too much to go into here, but if you check it out I think you'll find it interesting. So, I figured I'd use these predictions for the initial games, and then choose the rest myself.

Well, out of the first 32 games, these predictions managed to yield 22 correct picks (including the "stunning" upset by #14 Morehead State over #4 Louisville). The resulting glow lasted until I found out that my mom got the same amount correct, and she knows literally nothing about it! And my dad, who *does* know something, got 25.

Well, I figured I'd make up some ground with my own picks. So Saturday rolled around, and I had my 8 games chosen. The 1st 4 I got correct, and was thinking that maybe I'd actually get them all right! Well, I then proceeded to lose the next 4 games, yielding a pretty dismal 50% success rate. (Note - I still can't believe that with less than 1 second to go, #1 Pittsburgh managed to lose to #8 Butler.)

So today, I awoke with fresh hope of making up the extra ground with a fabulous day of picks. Nope - as it turned out, I managed only another 4 correct of 8. (Note - I still can't believe that with 2.9 seconds to go, a 2 point lead *and* the ball, #4 Texas managed to lose to #5 Arizona.) The sadness, indeed. And as today's predictive failures became clear, I needed to get my mind somewhere else...

I remembered that my friend's brother, who now works as a "concept designer" on Hollywood movies, had recently given a talk at St. Cloud State University (also my alma mater). I found his talk on YouTube, and decided to watch a bit before getting back to the games. Instead, I watched the entire thing, and started to feel some March gladness! You can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I974FYLJeT4