Day 355: They Don't Call it March Madness for Nothing.

Every year I claim that I won't give two minutes to March Madness. I don't like basketball and I don't care about this tournament. I say I won't fill out a bracket or enter a pool. Come mid, March, I plan to shun all things college hoops. I don't watch it during the regular season and I know nothing about any of the teams, so why would I watch now?

But I was just fooling myself.

Like several millions of other crazies, I got sucked into that stupid Billion Dollar Bracket Challenge on Yahoo. I foolishly thought I had a chance of winning Warren Buffett's $1 billion prize. (Ok... I didn't really, but a girl can dream, right?) I'm not going to lie, I didn't spend more than two or three minutes filling out the bracket—since I have no idea about any of the teams, it was all a great big crapshoot. But obviously, that first loss stung... my dreams of being a billionaire were dashed by Ohio State. Jerks.

So now... I'm obsessed. But I'm obsessed with watching just the last two minutes of the games. Since I'm not really a fan of the game of basketball, the thought of watching a game early in the first half when the score still sits in the single digits, makes me sort of want to kill myself. I'm happy if I can turn it on with two minutes or less in the game—and it's even better if the game is close. At this moment, the Cal Poly vs. Wichita State game is on and boy is it booooo-ring. It's not even a wee bit close. Guess I'll switch over to North Carolina vs. Providence match up...

I've had some moments that have been lucky guesses, perhaps. I did pick Harvard to beat Cincinnati and Stanford over New Mexico. That Mercer win over Duke this afternoon was awesome—even though I didn't pick them. Duke is annoying. And with Tennessee's commanding win over UMass, well, that bracket is pretty much blown and can only be rescued by Michigan.

My final four: Syracuse vs. Michigan State AND Wichita State vs. Creighton

My final two: Syracuse vs. Wichita State

My National Champion: Wichita State

Let's see how this all shakes out. I have absolutely no chance at winning any money and usually, the only way you can get me to watch basketball is to dangle cash in front of my face, so I'm not sure what's wrong with me! It's MAD I tell you!

Day 9: Congratulations, Louisville! Now Let's Get Back to Regularly Scheduled Programming...

If there's one sport I really don't enjoy, it's basketball—so this is probably the only post you'll see about the big orange ball. Watching a NBA game might be more torture for me than, well, actual torture. I do, however, enjoy the NCAA tournament. March Madness keeps me sane occupied while anxiously awaiting the Opening Day of baseball season. I found out this year, the tournament is much more fun if you've filled out your brackets. I totally forgot to do that this year...

Let's clarify what I actually mean by "enjoy" when I talk about NCAA basketball... it's turning on a game to find there are three minutes left in the game and the score is veeerrry close. If I come across a game still in its early stages, I turn it off. Weird, I know. If my brackets have completely crapped out, I will always root for the underdog. [Go Shockers!] A #1 seed winning the whole thing... boooooo-ring! Sorry, Mr. Pitino.

So now it's over and Louisville won. You kinda had to know they would win, especially with that gruesome injury to Kevin Ware. It was meant to be. Ask Wichita State... Was I the only one who got a little nervous seeing the replay of Ware cutting down the net? Yeah, send the guy with one good leg up the ladder with scissors. Sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Can we just get on with our regularly scheduled programs now? I'm having Blue Bloods withdrawal.