Bracket Time

If it's St. Patrick's Day, it must be time to fill in a bracket for the men's college basketball championship series. The first game is Thursday night, and we have to have our brackets filled in before then.

The "we" is me, Ken, and our three children. Five or six years ago we thought it would be fun for each of us to fill in a bracket. I don't follow college basketball, but that doesn't seem to matter with all the upsets that occur every year. A couple years ago I got the most points, which means I "won" although there is no prize other than the satisfaction of garnering more points than everyone else. Last year my daughter won. We have similar strategies: pick teams because you like the name of the school or know someone who attended there; pick a few upsets but mostly go with the top-seeded teams.

Last night my youngest son T called from Boston, and I asked him if he had filled in his bracket yet. He said no but he planned to. I told him that his dad and I were ready to fill ours in. T asked me if I was going to pick all number 1's to go to the "Final 4." The running joke last year was that my daughter and I both picked all four #1 teams to make the finals - something that had never happened before. Well, last year all four number 1's made it to the "Final 4" and we were kidded mercilessly for weeks. What did we know?

We knew enough to pick the four teams that played in the final three championship games.

Wish me luck. I have a reputation to protect.