Item: 1 NCAA Basketball Tournament bracket sheet

This is a great time of year.  I first participated in picks for the tournament when I lived in Iowa, and somebody basically gave me the paper and told me to fill it out.  I knew just about nothing about college basketball, but note that knowledge is not a requirement for it to be fun.  The middle of March was about the right time for it, too.  All my attention was distracted from whatever end-of-winter blues were hanging around that year and directed instead at trash-talking my co-workers and jumping up and down at the sports bar.  By the time somebody won the tournament, it was practically spring.

These days, as has been the tradition since 1999, I have a bet with my friend Christine involving the loser baking cookies for the winner.  I should disclose that I lose this bet more often than I win it.  I think my overall record is 2 and 5, but note that winning is also not a requirement for it to be fun.

The picking process is fun because it entails this whole complicated formula of facts and gut instincts, and the delicate balancing of who I want to win the game versus who I think probably will win the game.  It's fun because the story picks up as it goes, and my loyalties can switch from round to round (based on pure self-interest), or my loyalties can switch in spite of myself, so that I'm secretly rooting against my own picks.  It's fun because the same characters that I had forgotten about since last year show up again (like, for example, that cute blond guy that plays for Xavier).

So after today I am 12 for 16.  I don't usually watch basketball at any other time of year, and I won't pretend to even understand that much about the game.  Still, declining to participate in tournament picks is kind of like choosing to spend a holiday doing laundry or something.  Wouldn't you rather go to the party?