Madness Update 2008

Well, just because one is in the hospital doesn't mean that the outside world comes to a crashing halt. This has actually been a fairly congenial spot to watch the tournament, although the TV isn't really big enough, I can't get a beer, and there aren't any buffalo wings on the menus. But apart from that....

The Eastern bracket is now complete and mine was perfect: picked every game correctly, and have UNC advancing to the Championship Game with UCLA next weekend. The Western bracket is also finished: missed five games over there (had Arizona over West Virginia and Duke over the Wildcats, as well as Drake over Western Kentucky and U Conn all the way to the Elite Eight), but at least UCLA has played through to the Final Four as predicted.

One game left to play tonight in the South, where I only missed three games: had Oregon and Kentucky winning in the first round, and expected Stanford to beat Texas Friday night. But if Memphis wins through this evening than that part of my bracket will also be back in line with what I'd predicted at the start of the Tourney.

And, of course, like many brackets I suspect, my Midwest is a mess -- miss-picked 7 games there, mostly thanks to the Amazing Davidson. Tonight I had Wisconsin over KU, but I'll be rooting for the 10th-seeded Cinderella instead, even though My Former Wife is a Jayhawk.

Next weekend: UNC over Davidson/KU and UCLA over Memphis or (God forbid) Texas. And the National Championship to the Tarheels! That's how I see it. But mostly I'm just looking forward to watching. At home....

POSTGAME POSTSCRIPT

Midnight has come and gone, and Cinderella has left the building: hot, sweaty, and smelling slightly of pumpkin. The Memphis/Texas game went pretty much the way I'd hoped and expected, but Davidson/Kansas -- what a heartwarmer! The underdogs gave the Jayhawks everything they could handle, had a chance to win it at the end with a buzzer beater, and even had three good looks in the last couple of minutes to pull it out.

But at the end of the evening, the four Regional number one seeds advance to the Final Four for what I'm told is the first time in tournament history. Four very strong, proud, and historically prestigious programs. I can't wait for next weekend to begin.

The Resurrection and the Life

My apologies for having to share such private and personal news in such a public and impersonal way, but one of the few drawbacks of being blessed with so many good friends is that the task of trying to contact all of you individually is simply overwhelming. A few weeks ago I went to see my physician after waking up in the middle of the night and noticing that I was coughing up blood. A subsequent chest x-ray and other diagnostic testing revealed a malignant tumor approximately the size of a tennis ball in my right lung. Obviously, I would have much rather learned that I had just won the Powerball Jackpot, but the good news is that even though this cancer is relatively advanced, it can still be treated. And so I'm scheduled to begin my chemotherapy the week after Easter. I've also started a "cancer blog" at http://onedayisle.blogspot.com which I hope you will all take the time to visit and explore. Please leave your comments and good wishes. I look forward to hearing from you!

Tim

It's Bracket Time!

Here's mine.

Three-Ways

That's actually the etymology of the word "trivia." Tri Via. Three Ways, in Latin. At the intersections where three Roman Roads converged, officials used to post news and other important announcements that travelers needed to know. I don't really know how that evolved into the "trivia" we know today, but it did. So there you have it.

Haven't really been posting to this blog much lately, mostly because I haven't been playing much basketball myself, and I haven't really been watching much either. What I HAVE been doing is going down to my local sports bar on Monday Nights to play a trivia game they've brought in to attract more patrons now that Monday Night Football is over for the season. Sometimes I team up with friends I know from the bar, and other nights I end up having to compete all by myself. For some unknown reason, I always seem to do better on my own...even though as a group we clearly know more of the answers.

I generally compete under a different team name each time, just so my competitors can't scope me out. But last night's name was the best so far: Carpe Scrotum (which translates roughly as "grab 'em by the balls!"). And duly inspired, I once again won the grand prize for the second time this year...scoring 101 total points, which I think has only been beaten (at least in my experience there) one other time, by my own other high score of 108. Won a ball cap, some "Bingas Bucks," a tee-shirt and some sexy women's underwear; kept the first two, and gave away the latter to couple of young women I'm eagerly trying to recruit on to Team Scrotum. I always get slaughtered on the pop culture, contemporary music and TV questions. So I need someone on my team who actually pays attention to what Lindsey Lohan is up to these days.

The hardest part about playing as part of a team (as opposed to playing by myself) is communication, and being able to trust your team mates. The game has a betting element: you can put a lot of points on questions you know, and fewer on answers you're not that sure about, but you can only use each point value once per round. When I'm playing by myself, I either know or I don't and bet accordingly. But when I'm playing as part of a team....well, we still haven't really mastered that process yet. Two options though -- either everyone suggests and someone decides, or we try to do it by consensus. Or better yet, a routine, a strategy, a lot of trust....and a good facilitator too.

But the really silly thing is how HAPPY it makes me to win these stupid contests. Guess I'm actually a lot more competitive than I let on.

CARPE SCROTUM!