March Madness – Regular Guy

I Did It!

brian — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 15:46:10 +0000

Finally! I have achieved my goal and blogged every single day of March. This silly little challenge was just a personal effort to see if I could get back into the routine of something I had kind of pushed to the background.

But I succeeded and now have 31 days of fantastic content for you to enjoy.

Oh, yeah, right. There’s something like 11 or 12 days worth of posts up there. I forget and don’t feel like going back and re-counting.

I still feel proud of that accomplishment given how sporadic I have posted over the past few years. I got a few thoughts out of my head and will hopefully find some sort of rhythm in the future.

There were a few things that contributed to me not making the goal:

Work has just been a bear for a while now. We have another person in my department so that helped some, but it’s still kind of crazy. That brings about mental fatigue that makes writing a chore since I write a lot all day, even if we’re just talking about e-mails.
I continue to throw myself into Football Manager content and question whether this should become a Football Manager blog or not. I love the game and have enjoyed making content, but am not sure whether I want to add writing about it to my plate. So I am focusing more on YouTube and streaming on Twitch for now.
Things started to peter out around March Madness. That is not a coincidence. Even once that big weekend is done, my mind is still reeling. I wouldn’t change a thing.
I am just plain lazy and would rather knock out a quick Tweet or Facebook post.
COVID fatigue is still real, y’all.

But I will probably fill this space with my words of nonsense more in the future. I have a personal challenge in mind for April. It will likely not result in something for public consumption, but it will cross something off the list of things I have in my brain and need to get out.

Bragging About Nothing

brian — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 13:04:29 +0000

I have to admit, I used to do this. I still might do it on occasion, but I try to avoid this particular annoyance as much as possible these days. Partially because I realize it doesn’t matter, but mostly because I have realized how stupid it sounds.

People have to stop bragging about not doing things.

I’m not talking about the not doing things that I admire, like spending a whole day on your couch in sweats watching TV for no good reason. That is admirable and should be shared with the world. I’m talking about the kind of not doing things that annoying sports business writer Darren Rovell tweeted about over the weekend.

Realize it’s not what majority want to do, but it’s my 8th year of not filling out a bracket. Don’t think I will ever go back.

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) March 15, 2015

This one got me for a couple of reasons. First of all, I love March Madness and fill out brackets like they are going out of style. I have done this forever so the fact that not filling out a bracket is some sort of badge of honor just makes me roll my eyes. Second, it was from Rovell, who is a twit.

But this isn’t just about March Madness brackets. We see it with any cultural phenomenon. People like to brag that they don’t care about the Super Bowl or Super Bowl commercials or the Oscars (I have been guilty of that) or pretty much any sports or pop culture event that brings people together.

I like some of those things and don’t like others, but why should I or anyone else feel compelled to puff our chest out when we aren’t interested in something a lot of other people like? Twitter and Facebook, that’s why.

I love social networks like those, but that’s pretty much the whole reason for this. People who love these events talk about them a lot, and those who are not included feel like they need to join the conversation if only to say they don’t want to join the conversation. It’s the ultimate “look at me move.”

Which is why the ultimate “look at me” guy Darren Rovell was the one that kind of set me over the edge. As I said, I am sure I have done this, usually with the Oscars and Grammys. I think I have learned my lesson. If you want credit for not doing something, you’re probably the kind of guy people don’t want joining them while they enjoy their favorite things. So just shut up.

Best Weekend Ever

brian — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 12:02:55 +0000

A lot of people have placed an undue focus on 2012 because they think the Mayans predicted the world would end later this year.

We can accomplish very little by sitting and talking about the absurdity of an ancient culture using some stone tablet thousands of years ago to accurately predict the apocalypse. We’d probably be funnier than the skit “Saturday Night Live” did on it a couple of months ago, but that’s not important right now.

What’s important is how this whole doomsday discussion has missed the one truly amazing thing about the 2012 calendar, a special alignment which happens this week.

The first two days of March Madness fall directly prior to St. Patrick’s Day, which falls on a Saturday.

If that doesn’t prove some sort of cosmic guidance in the universe – well at least for 2012 – I don’t know what does. I can take off work to enjoy two of the best days of the sports calendar, celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and then still have a day off (one that also has lots of basketball action) to recover for work.

That’s something the ancient witch doctors should have bragged about predicting, not the end of the world.

The week means even more to me because I also throw myself into the NCAA Wrestling Tournament and the early days of Major League Soccer. In short, people who sell pizza, chicken wings and beer will probably see me more this weekend than my family.

I know some people will laugh at how people like me turn almost all of their attention to a weekend-long sporting event, but I think events like March Madness play a critical role in our society.

So many segments of the country spend way too much time trying to tear down people they disagree with. This becomes so much more pronounced in an election year like this one.

The college basketball tournament gives a lot of people three weeks to bond over one subject when they might otherwise not have much in common. Sure, arguments can come up, but the debate over whether St. John’s or Cincinnati will win the next game probably won’t bring out the bad blood that politics does.

Besides, the excitement of the competition should draw in anyone regardless of whether they really care who wins and loses. College sports has many, many problems, but the thrill of March Madness isn’t one of them.

That’s why I always take the first two days off from work if I can manage it. By spending Thursday and Friday watching basketball, I will contribute to a rise in positive energy that can help the country rise about petty differences.

Or I just want to sit around, do nothing and eat food I know I should try and avoid. And possibly have a chance to win one of the many pools I inevitably join. But mainly because the making America feel like a better place stuff. Yeah, that’s the real reason. I heard it from the Mayans or something.

It Was Madness

brian — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 20:39:39 +0000

I took off last Thursday and Friday to watch the first two days of March Madness along with the NCAA wrestling tournament. That’s why blogging has been light. Oh, and because I’m a master procrastinator. A few tidbits from my long weekend:

The coffee maker broke. More on this in next week’s column. Short version – I wimped out on buying a Keurig or similar machine
Thanks to play rehearsals both nights during the week, I did not drink during the day. I know some of you are quite shocked at that.
I actually did OK in my brackets. I’m still in the hunt to win at least one. We’ll see how that goes this weekend.
The way they scheduled the games on Sunday absolutely sucked. Most of them were in the evening. I had to return to work and needed to go to bed at a decent hour one night during the weekend.
I finally figured out how to use the “Favorite Channel” on my remote because there was no way I was remembering what numbers I needed to press for TruTV and the HD feeds for TBS, TNT and CBS.
Abstaining from meat on a Friday during Lent is a lot harder when you’re home alone watching sports. Thankfully, pretzels and peanuts do a pretty good job at satisfying chicken wing cravings.
Between all the games, I also managed to finish Season 1 of Party Down on Netflix and win the PGA Championship in Tiger Woods on the Wii.
My wife did not leave me. That’s the best achievement of all, I think.

A New Kind of March Madness

brian — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 19:39:01 +0000

I think everyone who went to college had a rich buddy who never listened to anyone. He had enough money to make his mistakes negligible. Wreck a car? Dad will get him a new one. Trash his apartment during a party? Ask Mom for money for something else and use it to re-furnish. No decision required much thought because the funds kept coming in.

Right now, the NCAA is that arrogant rich guy not thinking of what might happen next week. If you haven’t heard, the college sports mafia will probably expand the men’s basketball tournament to 96 teams next year. You think picking the first round in your bracket was hard with 64 teams, just wait.

I use the rich kid analysis with this is because they don’t have this idea on the table because of some hue and cry for more games or some mandate from the fans. The NCAA can opt out of its TV contract with CBS after this year’s tournament, and they think that adding more teams will get them more money from whoever televises the 2011 tournament. Since they signed an 11-year, $6 billion (yeah, billion) deal the last time around, you can see why they need to scheme to make every penny they can. Poor guys must be starving.

The whole idea stinks. No one wants this except the people running the NCAA, who want to squeeze more money out of a bidding war between CBS and ESPN?ABC, and the coaches and presidents at Division I schools who will have an easier chance to brag that their team made the tournament.

I appreciate that the money from events like this one plays a critical role in funding so many other NCAA activities. So many athletes in so-called minor sports get a chance to chase their dreams because of the success of March Madness. But don’t make the tournament a joke just to squeeze a few extra pennies from the networks.

If you need money, perhaps there’s a chance to establish a post-season tournament in a sport which could bring in enough revenue to convince officials that the 65-team basketball tournament does not need to change. If I could only think of a wildly popular sport with huge fan and television interest that does not have a tournament even though pretty much everyone who watches it wants the NCAA to add an official championship.

I’m drawing a blank. Anyone have any ideas?

A New Holiday

brian — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:58:49 +0000

We have a crisis on our hands in America, people. We need to rise up together and make things right.
Everywhere I look, I see people arguing about all sorts of things. No one can agree on health care or national defense or how to deal with our economic problems. Everyone thinks they have the solution, but they don’t want to even think about listening to someone else’s ideas.

Far too often, we turn a blind eye to the many things that can unite us instead of tear us apart. One of those opportunities is staring us right in the face.

The NCAA Basketball Tournament starts on Thursday.

Our government gives us so many opportunities to honor our past. We get off for Independence Day and Memorial Day and Labor Day.

I don’t think we need to stop celebrating those days, but I wish we could find a way to focus on the future. Like giving everyone off on the first two afternoons of the big tournament.

Face it, we are getting bombarded by stories about how much businesses will lose in productivity on the two weekdays when games take place during work hours. With all the games available online, many fans have had a harder time staying focused on work.

So let’s give the people what they want and just shut everything down at noon on Thursday. We can all get back together on Friday morning, but when the first game tips off, we need to pat each other on the back and head to the nearest television to do our civic duty.

Some people might say that this flies in the face of the work ethic which built America. But what about the ease of distraction which sustains America? Sure, our fathers and grandfathers worked hard. We’re better known for debating Kate Gosselin’s hair instead of the dirt under our fingernails.

Other people might say that our precarious economic position makes it impossible to stop working for something as trivial as a basketball tournament. I say we need to use one situation to better the other.

Let’s have one massive bracket pool with some of the proceeds going to improving our economic condition. Lots of people need work, so let’s hire them to run this big pool.

Using gambling to bolster the economy will certainly offend the sensibilities of some, but this can be a one-shot deal. Three weeks of filling out brackets, circling winners and crossing out losers. That’s the most patriotic solution to our problems I can think of.

Just think, instead of arguing over health care legislation, we will debate whether Gonzaga deserved such a good seed after choking in their conference championship. The battles over the wisdom of stimulus funding will be replaced by in-depth discussion of the RPI formula used by the seeding committee. The mid-term elections will disappear from our minds as we evaluate what bubble teams lost out.

With so much division in our land, we need something to really bring us together. March Madness can do that. Plus, we all get to share how much we hate Duke. That’s got to do something for our national morale.

Noooooooooooo!

brian — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 16:10:30 +0000

I just realized something this morning. There are nly seven football games left in the season. College is done – I don’t count the all-star games. There are four NFL playoff games today, two next week, a week off, then the Super Bowl. The Pro Bowl also doesn’t count.

Seven games, then nothing, nada, zip. The only respite will be World Cup qualifying for the U.S. men’s soccer team. They have a friendly this month, then a big match against Mexico on Feb. 11. After that, I have to wait until March Madness starts, then the MLS season in mid-March.

I hope I survive.

Who’s Winning the Pool

brian — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:30:47 +0000

For the second year in a row, I am running the NCAA basketball pool at work. The person who had run it in previous years couldn’t swing it last year, so I stepped in. I didn’t have many problems so took it on again this year.

Things are going well, with the exception of my brackets. Everyone paid. We have a few more people playing than last year. The standings are pretty tight. My only real problem is deciding whether to use a web site like ESPN or Yahoo to run the whole thing next year.

Stories like this make me think I’d rather have everything under my control.

H/T to Deadspin

It Just Doesn’t Matter

brian — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 17:24:12 +0000

I went looking for something good to watch this morning before the second day of the basketball tournament started. I scored big time as “Meatballs” was one on of the movie channels.

I love this movie. I think it doesn’t get enough credit for how entertaining it is. Plus, this scene pretty much summed up how my brackets are going.