Wow, thanks to Vermont upsetting Syracuse, I am now mathematically eliminated from winning my office pool on the second day of the tournament. The second day! I think I actually did worse than the girl in Payroll that picks teams based solely on the color of their uniforms. Sadly, she even warned me that Syracuse’s orange uniforms were really more of a fall color. Damn. I now face the daunting task of going into work on Monday and trying to convince people that my wife actually filled out my bracket.
While Vermont played an outstanding game, they couldn’t have pulled out the win without some magnificent point shaving by Syracuse’s Gerry McNamara. Kudos on a truly first-rate performance. I’m sure there’s a bookie having his thumbs broken as we speak. Seriously, it was like watching the movie “Blue Chips” with Jim Boeheim starring in Nick Nolte’s role (and regrettably, without Shaq as a supporting actor.)
Truthfully though, I like seeing a smattering of upsets this time of year. It’s just that I’m usually on the “Called it!!!” side of these games, smugly gloating to coworkers like the outcome was obvious. “Well, Southwest Missouri Tech has won their last 11 non-conference games on the road… And Kansas tends to shoot under 50% when the opposing coach has a mustache. It was really a no-brainer.”
There’s more to this story though. With their win tonight, Vermont has unwittingly created a second major upset within our office pool. With me out of the tourney in the early rounds, my coworkers (all of which are #16 seeds to my lone #1 seed) now have a legitimate chance to win it all. Let me say right now, I can’t wait to use that analogy on Monday…
And so there it is. Let the madness begin… I can honestly say that my happiness in life over the next three weeks will depend almost entirely on how far Gonzaga goes in the tourney… (By declaring that, I almost assuredly have jinxed my way into another upset. Standard.)
Go Zags!
How about Bucknell, that was a hell of a game. Good to see the Jayhawks out so early, now only Duke needs to lose.
I’m not following the tournament, and haven’t for years, but Kansas lost! WTF! Andrew isn’t talking about it…I think he’s in denial.
I think my favorite design aspect of this site is the favicon. I must have a thing for the “Z”, it’s so clean.
“I can honestly say that my happiness in life over the next three weeks will depend almost entirely on how far Gonzaga goes in the tourney…”
Well, that makes life at the ol’ Ring household interesting doesn’t it? All I know is that I’m glad I live roughly 1500 miles away.
What a crazy freaking three days. I have to echo Bailes’ sentiments about Kansas and (hopefully) Duke. Now Wake Forest and Gonzaga too… All I know is that it’s anybody’s tournament this year.
I knew this would happen. Twelve hours after this post went up, Gonzaga suffers an upset to a team that they should have beaten by 20 points. This officially proves that God reads Internet Zillionaire.
My first favicon… so thanks for the compliment Furious. I see you installed WordPress over at philnick.com. I can give you a few good references for creating your own theme.
Yeah, way to go Peewee, curse the Zags this year. What the hell? Why couldn’t you have cursed Duke, for crying out loud? I blame you solely for the Zags loss, and you’ll have to buy me many beers to make up for this. Well, actually, how about we’re even now for me missing the New Year’s party?
So I on the other hand am Dominating My work pool. With my picks of UAB, Utah and and syracuse loosing, I have risen above the wrekage of mis picks to stand alone with three of my final four teams left. I pity all of you who did not know that N.C. State was awesome. Go Duke, A win from them sets me up to be unbeatable.