I sit in awe as I watch Robby, cold and calculating, fill out his bracket. He's got Kentucky over West Virginia in the second round. Sure, he knows Calipari's a sleazeball -- and that West Virginia represents our conference. But he also knows Kentucky has Brandon Knight and Terrence Jones, and talent out the wazoo. He's going with the better team.Remember Butler, everyone's favorite underdog from last year's tourney? Sorry, Cinderella -- my hard-hearted son has you going out in the first round to O.D.U.
And then there's UConn. Robby's been a UConn fan since he's three years old. But he's also watched them go a mediocre 9-9 in conference play, and despite their amazing run in the Big East tournament (and his ode to that run in his most recent post), he has them losing to Duke in the Elite Eight.
Robby takes his March Madness seriously. He has SportsCenter on 24/7 -- even while he's sleeping. He stays current with the ESPN blogs. He listens to podcasts on bracketology. But more than that, he watches games. Oh, so many games. And not just the headliners. He'll watch an early-January Ohio Valley Conference game between Morehead State and Tennessee Tech, and store what he sees in his mental hard drive -- just in case one of those teams surfaces in the Big Dance.
I, on the other hand? Sure, I do a little brushing up; Pete Thamel's tournament preview in The New York Times is my go-to source. And I'll sit in on portions of regular-season games with Robby from time to time. (No, not Morehead State v. Tennessee Tech.)
But when I fill out my bracket, all sorts of things intervene between me and objectivity. In deference to conference loyalty, I'm always going to give the benefit of the doubt to a Big East team. There's also Robby's college applications to think about. UNC is the only school so far that's had the nerve to shoot him down -- and they're paying the price: I had them exiting in the second round. The schools he's gotten into, and the ones he hasn't heard from yet? They're all down for deep runs.
And then, of course, there's my UConn Rule: If they're in, they win. That's it. No questions asked. No if's, and's, or but's.
So now, after the first mind-boggling weekend of the Big Dance, where have our respective styles landed us?
Well, my son, Mr. Cold Hard Facts, after reviewing his bracket, tells me you can stick a fork in him. I currently stand in 10th place among the 29 members in my pool. But in the all-important "Best Score" category, I'm #2, and that's because I have UConn winning the whole thing -- which more and more serious March Madness followers are starting to believe might happen.
So maybe there's a place for heart in bracketology after all.
Hank
