College Hoop Dreams

Every March, something strange starts happening. I come down with the ailment known as "March Madness". Yes, for some reason, I love the NCAA basketball tournament. I get my brackets, make my picks, and follow all the games. In fact, I could probably shut myself in a room with a TV, nachos, and beer and not come out until the tournament is over. Or until I have to go to the bathroom, which would probably come first.

You might be saying to yourself, "Hmmm...didn't know Trixie was such a big college basketball fan." That's because I'm not. I'm generally pretty clueless about the sport, other than knowing when the Illini are playing so I can plan activities around it. Nothing beats shopping while everyone else is watching the game!

Anyway, my company has been doing a tournament contest the last couple of years. LEGAL DISCLAIMER-this is purely a contest, no money is paid to enter. But the top ten players win a prize, so it's always pretty fun. I usually end up somewhere in the middle of the standings out of a group of 150-200 people. This year, however, something weird happened. I actually got in first place after the first weekend of play. Pretty exciting, but I knew it wouldn't last. And then after the second week and some very close games, I was still in first place. What the heck was going on? After the Final Four, I was still in the lead, and one of the few to predict the Final Four teams. And then the Championship game on Monday-I missed the first half, and tuned in the second half to see Florida leading Ohio State. Florida kept the lead during the rest of the game. And then it was over, Florida was the champion for the second year in a row. The only time the same starting five had ever won back-to-back championships. How exciting!

Sure enough, Tuesday morning, I look at the standings. And there I am-in 15th place. Yep, I had Ohio State :(

But I still had the best pick percentage out of 155 people at 84%. And 15th place is the best I've ever done.

Wait til next year!