It’s here, that great time of year where water cooler talk heats up, where legends are made and dreams are shattered. It can only be defined by one word. Madness. March Madness. It’s that time where you find out how much that guy in cubicle four knows about basketball, how much that cute girl actually pays attention to sports and of course how much you look like a genius amongst your peers. (Believe us when we say this, everyone feels like a genius when they get a Final Four team right) But it’s also the de-facto best sporting event out there. For the next couple of weeks millions will tune in and watch college athletes battle it out in a gauntlet of games on their way to New Orleans to make it to the coveted Final Four. Your job is to guess who makes it there. As many of you are filling out and completing your brackets we want to give you a couple Do’s and Don’ts to help you as you fill out that bracket so you don’t look like the fool when it’s all said and done.
Do go based of history numbers don’t lie. Jay-Z said it. So it is true.
Do pick one 12 seed-they’ve won a game 24 of 27 years. Fact.
Don’t go Out of control on the upsets. It looks cool, until you’re already eliminated from winning any pool in the round of 32.
Do find out who’s hot. Check a teams last few games to see if they are on a nice little run. It could be the difference.
Don’t trust those 2 seeds! Once in the last 15 years has all 2 seeds made the sweet 16(sorry Coach K)
Do have a double digit seed in the sweet 16-in those 15 years all but 3 have produced a double digit seed(yup, WVU looks the part)
Don’t have all 4 #1 seeds in the final four. What’s cool about having a pocket of all one dollar bills? Nothing. Neither is picking all the one seeds. Is it easy? yeah. Does it happen? It’s happened once in the last few years. Yeah once, 2008. So that ‘Cuse winning it all thing you got going on? Stop that. (Plus they can’t rebound, but we won’t dwell that deep into it.)
Do find her. Cinderella is going shoe shopping right now, it’s your job to find out where is it in the SOUTH, WEST, EAST, or the MIDWEST. She is somewhere.
Do have a #1 seed winning it all. Sounds contradicting I know, the big boys do end up taking home the belt the majority of the time.
Do ask your girlfriend/sidechick who would win if your stuck-Trust me, it works. Do they know who Kidd-Gilchrist is? No, they probably think he’s a guy from their favorite show “The Voice” but their never wrong in these situations. The less they know, the better they are.
Don’t outthink yourself. You’re not a know-it-all just because you’ve watched ESPN 16 hours straight and watched Obama fill out his bracket. Just pick based on the single digit games you’ve watched all year, it might help.
Don’t be biased-The hardest thing about feeling these things out. We get it, you went to school there, that doesn’t mean Iowa State is gonna breeze to the Final Four. And yeah he’s a great coach, we all like him, but face it, Duke isn’t going to make the final four (Sorry Coach K)
There are going to be upsets. It’s just the nature of the tourney.
If you are serious: Check this stat FREE THROW PERCENTAGE. Free throws win games. Ask the 2008 Memphis team. (Well technically their wins were vacated that year because of Derrick Rose and his SAT sco… I’m getting off topic)
Don’t act like you are a super genius if you get some picks. Picking that nine seed to beat an eight doesn’t make you a Bracket Master and honestly that happens quite a bit. So if you feel you got the most picks right, chances are someone got more than you.
Do pay attention to this. A 10 will beat a 7. Believe me. It will. Numbers do not lie.
Don’t pay attention to records. The best record doesn’t win the title. UConn was a subpar team in the Big East last year.
Do go with your gut. If you feel that the Baylor Bears are going to sweep through the tourney in their highlighter jerseys, go with it. It’s your choice.
We would tell you more, but we got our own pools to win. But,
HAVE FUN. It’s the best time of year enjoy it.
This writer just endured the worst weekend ever. This writer got off work at 5 p.m. racing home to watch his favorite baseball team the Atlanta Braves try and advance into the real MLB playoffs. When he left work the score was 2-0. Smiling from ear to ear as he sped home, if that’s possible, on his 15 speed bike to watch the rest of the game. By the time he got home, the score was 3-2, and the Braves never would regain the lead again. A painful night for the writer, as he had to endure all the mockery of his team for the rest of the night. On Saturday, the writer would seemingly have a much easier day. As 2 touchdown favorite FSU had a night game, against what one would think to be an easy match-up vs N.C. State. 16-0 at half and the writer was on his high horse poking fun of Miami fans. His high horse turned from Secretariat to Mr. Ed. FSU didn’t score in the 2nd half, as the writer had another eventful night of criticism from all his friends, ouch. Sunday Night. Prime-time. San Diego is off to play the win-less Saints. Let’s jump to the 4th quarter, final drive, Rivers launches a deep ball to Gates, complete to the 20. Wait, offensive pass interference? Huge drive killer, eventually costing them the game. What looked to be a great sports weekend, literally turned into the worst, weekend, ever!
Philip Rivers was gift-wrapped a 24-0 lead. Deep down watching as a fan, you just knew it was too good to be true, no way this would last. If you thought that, you were right. Interceptions, fumbles, sacks, miscues led to a giant collapse and the broncos came back to beat the chargers 35-24. Oh yeah, having Peyton Manning doesn’t hurt either. It seemed like before Manning could even get settled in he was already down 10-0. Unlike the last prime time game verse the Falcons he had nothing to do with the deficit. Denver had 2 fumbles on special teams that allowed the Chargers to take over deep in Bronco’s territory that helped them jump out to the 10-0 lead. When Manning did get his shot, he took full advantage. Manning fired a 55 yard bomb to Eric Decker what seemed to be a sure fire touchdown, but wait, the turf monster made a huge tackle, and Decker hit the deck. On the ensuing play, Manning looked to audible to the young wide out Matt Willis, Willis didn’t recognize the hot read and Quentin Jammer raced 80 yards the other way for a 17-0 Chargers lead.
The Chargers got the ball back and drove down the field and took a commanding 24-0 lead heading into halftime. Coming out to start the 2nd half, Manning wasted no time as the Broncos drove 85 yards in 8 plays in just under 4 minutes. An impressive drive as he hooked up with Georgia Tech alum Demaryius Thomas for a 29 yard score. Later on in the quarter, Rivers was sacked and fumbled after a huge hit by Von Miller, as Tony Carter scooped and scored for 65 yards. Uh oh, you could hear a pin drop in Qualacom Stadium. The doubts started to surface, and you could just feel it in the air that this was going to be “one of those nights.” 2 interceptions later after some poor forced throws by Philip Rivers and the Broncos are up 28-24. As the game comes down to its final moments, the Chargers have one last chance to make a come back. That last chance was shot down almost as quick as it started as Rivers threw his 4th interception for a touchdown, 46 yards for Chris Harris. The giant collapse probably cost the Chargers a shot at the AFC West title and in the end could cause a huge turnover at the end of the season for management. Many thought Norv Turner wouldn’t make it to this season, but with sub-par performances this year, it’s not looking good for the Chargers coach. They have played the 3rd easiest schedule in the NFL and have only managed a 3-3 record.
