Bracket Busters
Pay attention. You’re about to watch a billion dollars change hands over the next few weeks. You’re also about to see companies lose millions of dollars due to lack of productivity from its workers. And you’re about to hear a lot – and I mean a lot – about seeds, regions and Cinderellas.
I’m talking about March Madness.
All over the country, people are taking their brackets and trying their hardest to do a better job at picking winners than Bob in accounting or their Uncle Ricky. This is serious business. All the important questions will get asked: Which #12 seed will win this year? Which #1 seed will be the first to lose? Just how good is BYU going to be? But no matter how much strategy and voodoo rituals we try to apply, most of us are going to end up ripping our brackets to shreds. So before you fill out yours, try to avoid these 5 notorious bracket busters.
5. Fool’s Gold
This bracket buster hurts the least only because you aren’t the only one in your pool that screws this up. It’s the team that went on an incredible tear towards the end of the regular season and despite being the underdog, blew through their conference tournament to win the championship. They got a favorable seeding and they were just too sexy to pass up. The problem was the streak that you thought wouldn’t end, fell flat on its face as that team who was 7-9 to start the season returned and cost you a key Sweet 16 spot.
4. Three’s Company
This is the team from Montana or from some other state with less than 10 electoral votes. The only reason they’re even the tournament is because they happen to be the best team in their sorry conference. However when matched up against #4 seed, they can’t seem to miss a 3 point shot. They fall down by 15 points in the first half and just when you are ready to put a check mark next to that pick, they start stroking it, and the lead shrinks. You’re usually up 2 points with 5 seconds to go when 5 foot 4 point guard who majors in Finance pulls up and ends you with a 30 footer at the buzzer.
3. The Kansas Rule
This is for that team that ran through their conference, racking up 25+ wins and was a consensus #1 all season long. Just as you are prepared to brag to all of your friends about how you are going to ride this team to the Final Four, they crumble under the pressure, get bounced out in the 2nd round and you are left picking up the pieces. You then become the guy that has to pray for Butler to win it all so you can finish in the money.
2. F***ing Bulls**t!
This phrase is usually reserved for that mid-major team that knocked your Elite 8 or Final Four team out of the dance. You know that if those two teams played 100 times your pick would have won the other 99 games but the Madness is only about one game on one night. It’s usually a team with a solid reputation and even though a few ESPN analysts picked them to go far you simply couldn’t fathom picking them with money on the line. But not only did they beat your team, they went on to beat a few more favorites to damn near win the whole thing.
1. You
That’s right the worst bracket buster of all time is the person that you look at in the mirror. It happens every year. You get so excited to see this year’s brackets and you immediately fill them out. Then you spend the next 2 ½ days second-guessing yourself. You ponder over that #13 in your Sweet 16 or if you should have more than two #1 seeds in your Final Four. And just before you have to officially submit your picks, you let Digger Phelps talk you out of a few and you change them… Only to find out that your gut was right and your original picks would have panned out. You scream and curse and vow not to do that again next year. But we all know how that story ends.
Happy Picking!
i love digger!
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