Wednesday, April 6, 2011

March Madness 2011


During the first week of March Madness, Dana and I usually take Thursday and Friday off from work and watch basketball from noon to midnight each day from Thursday through Sunday.  By Sunday evening, we would be so sick of watching basketball that we could barely make it through.  This year, we were able to watch March Madness on the Internet, but only for the day games, which started 5 hours later (we didn’t have daylight savings until March 27th.  Here are some thoughts on this year’s tournament:

  1. I won.  Each year, we choose who we think will win each game and you get points for each correct game.  This year, I won.  It’s was official even before the Final Four games as there were no more possible points to be won (i.e. nobody in the group chose any of the Final Four teams.)    This is the most important point.
  2. I won…and it counts!  Dana and I have completed brackets against each other (see last year’s March Madness post) for nearly ten years now and we have no record of past performance.  We have no historical proof of previous victories and we are blurry (I will never admit to any defeats) about the details. Maybe it’s the PhD research influence (actually, I am pretty sure it is) because I have started a database/spreadsheet detailing the results of our competitions against each other.  This way, we can track overall trends and have official data that we can use against each other as the years go by.  I can’t wait to boast to an 18 year old Dylan with 100% accuracy that I’ve beaten his Mom in the last 16 out of 18 NCAA March Madness brackets.  
  3. College basketball is so much better than the NBA.  It’s not even close.  The games are so much more exciting and better played.  I wish the German basketball fans would have access to watch more college basketball on TV and the Internet.   I hope for the day when more of my German friends will inquire if I stayed up late to watch the Duke- North Carolina game rather than the NBA All-Star game. 
  4. I am still losing to Dana in the overall standings.  Although the spreadsheet is new as of this year, I have failed to mention up to this point that, even with the NCAA Tournament victory, I am now losing 2 to 1, due to a couple of early losses.  Dana beat me in the College Football Bowl Pick’em this year and she also beat me (quite handily) in the NAIA (Small College) Basketball bracket. 
Dana did so bad in this year's March Madness bracket. Worst bracket ever.

She is still winning overall, though.

Finally, I have to mention that both my High School (Tri-Unity Christian) and College (Cornerstone University) alma mater’s won their respective State Basketball Championship and National Basketball Championship.  What’s more impressive is the way they have handled their success.  I am proud of these guys and my schools! 

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