March Madness: why I root for me

March Madness is just no fun when you lose out on bragging rights…

Normally I love the underdog. But you didn’t hear me scream “Go Bucknell! Go Vermont! Go West Virginia!” on the first weekend of March Madness. Why? Because I didn’t pick them in my March Madness pool. And as is the case of anything I do, I hate losing.
So much so that when I read that my British friend Paul actually picked Bucknell AND Vermont to send Jayhawk and Orange fans home blubbing, I was relieved that he wasn’t around to sing out that oft-used March cliché: “I called the upset! Call me the Swami, baby!” For the record, “The Swami” is in Britain, and 30 phone calls to all his friends `out west’ is out of his financial reach (and not worth it, considering every answer he’ll get to his boast will be a four-letter word).

But when Wake Forest fell to West Virginia, all I could do is swear at Chris Paul. After all, Paul’s expulsion in OT delivered me the same proverbial shot to the onions as the one he actually gave Julius Hodge in the ACC tournament. First he’s canonized by Sports Illustrated, and now he blows my bracket. Who says these SI kids aren’t cursed? After the WF bracket blowout, coupled with Big Orange’s bubble bursting, there was no way I could Jimmy V this NCAA tournament (that’s win it by surprise, not die of cancer)….or so I thought.

But later that day, it all seemed to change. I was back rooting for me again. When Duke squeaked by Mississippi State, I breathed a sigh of relief. Not because I like the Blue Devils, it’s because I have them to lose to UNC in the Final Four. Weirdly, I was actually pleased to see Arizona go through to the second weekend. Not because I have any love for Tuscon (I’m an ASU fan, for my sins), but because I had them to lose to the OK State in the next game, and I’m in it for me, dammit. When number one seed Washington wiped the floor with those Pacific kids let’s just say I was happy. Nine out of ten of my friends predicted a Pacific victory (all apart from me, who called Pitt to beat Washington (duh!!)). And UNC? Let’s just say I’d rather be tarred than be a `Heel, but if they won the Final Four 84-80, it would improve my pool chances dramatically. Oh, and would the Illini please play perfectly until the Cowboy game in the Final Four? Please?

Now who can I find to rig a game or two for me??

DISCLAIMER: The last comment was a joke. I mean it, a joke, NCAA people/those who might get offended…