It's March Madness, Baby!

Over the past couple of years, I have really gotten into the excitement of March Madness. I can distinctly remember the first time I became totally engaged and hooked on the tournament...I was in a ski town in Colorado (Breck maybe?) at a restaurant with my Dad and one of the games was on TV. There was a long wait at the restaurant so we passed the time watching the game. Charles had filled out his bracket and I knew which teams he picked so automatically those were the teams I then rooted for. This one particular game playing at the restaurant was a nail-biter. Regulation went right up to the last second (as so many of the tournament games do) and then it was overtime. I think there were two or three overtime's in the game, all of which were back-and-forth and totally intense, before the game finally ended, again, at the last second. I was exhausted by the end of the game and taken by surprise at how much fun it was to watch and have a team to cheer for. I don't watch pro basketball and don't watch a second of college hoops prior to the tournament, but filling out that bracket thus knowing ahead of time which teams you want to win for 61 games all within the span of a couple of weeks, most of which are pure excitement, how can you not get wrapped up in it? Not to mention, it's great procrastination during work hours and good bonding time with the boss...so far I have him beat by one game. I go here a lot and refresh every couple of minutes during game time.

So, currently I sit 13-3 thanks to losses by George Washington, Duke and Gonzaga (I ALWAYS choose Gonzaga, Villanova and Xavier to make it through at least the first round because I like their names...). Here is my final four:

• Florida
• Kansas
• Texas
• Memphis

I have Florida and Memphis going to the National Championship and Florida taking home the title. Wish me luck!!!