The NCAA Cup...ahem...Tournament
I was a bit As part of this cultural intercambio (say it like "dos chai lattes") of mine, I'm doing my best to give a little something back to these well intentioned Brits. This week, this has taken the form of an NCAA Tournament office pool. Another American colleague and I went to painstaking lengths to not only organize the damn thing (Ok, that was pretty simple), but also to explain terms like "March Madness" and "The Big Dance" to our captive audience. Luckily, one of my new obsessions, Wikipedia, came to the rescue yet again.
For the most part, everyone seems game to get involved, although I think they're more interested in the opportunity to make a friendly wager than in the games themselves. A few have even tried to get me to take their money without fully filling out a bracket. Ultimately, I think this amateurism will make things more interesting. For example, one of the Australian guys in the office turned in his completed bracket today with Arizona going all the way. The reason? Daniel Dillon, a 6-3 Sophomore guard from Melbourne. Another British colleague, who is actually back in NY on a short-term project, had the following to say: "Hey there! This sounds very cool. I have no idea what most of it means but I'd like to join in. What is a bracket? All I know is that I want to choose the Knicks - better support the local team while I'm here!" So good.
Of course, given that my own alma mater chose against making this year's tournament (I'm no basketball pundit, but check out Schembechler Hall for some hateration), I'm forced to sit through endless comments along the lines of, "Hey, I chose Michigan State since I remembered you went there." Effing Wolverines.
I'll let you know when the woman who picked teams based on their mascots wins the whole damn thing.
posted by cjb at 7:28 PM
7 Comments:
That woman always does.
I actually like to choose the winners by which is the nicer city/state... i.e. which one I'd rather live in. Hasn't really worked for me so far. Maybe I should change my methodology
i actually remember you doing something like that maria!
curt that is hilarious. if you lose, you should be ashamed of yourself. :)
I like to think that my general ignorance of college basketball is overshadowed by the complexity of the algorithm I use to fill out my bracket (a variety of factors are considered, including but not limited to: given city/state's quality of life -- good call, Maria; color and style of uniforms; mascots -- I hate birds; generally outdated knowledge of college basketball empires -- UNC, Duke, Kansas, or Kentucky will usually win, in my book; stereotypical impressions of given schools -- I imagine Alabama to be racist and BYU to be homophobic, thus they're out); and so on. This may seem bizarre, but I've won 2 of the last 5 years. Please keep this copyrighted formula away from the Brits.
There is no shame worse than the shame of losing an NCAA pool when you're the presumptive favorite. Good luck, my friend.
That line about the Knicks is hilarious. That's not just sporting-culture miscegenation gone awry; that's just plain stupid.
It gets worse people. Today I realized that I've lost total control of the tourney pool. This afternoon, a woman turned in brackets for both her and her husband. In both cases, Ohio State was predicted to advance curiously far in the tournament. When I asked her about it, she responded (sans British accent) that she grew up in Columbus and went to OSU! I began to harass her about how great it was to see an OSU grad see such success outside of prison and farmhand work, but the people around gave me "nish nish" looks so I gave it a rest.
Joey/Kimmy - It sort of reminded me of the lesbian buckeyes from our Oregon trip a few years back. Am I destined to be taunted by OSU fans (across the globe) for the rest of my life?
By the way, I should have bet money on Shoople boasting of her UM Senior year tourney pool win. She's been hanging her hat on that for some time now. But 2 of the last 5? When did lightning strike twice Shoops?
Dude, that winning formula was gold once again in my office pool two years ago. Speaking of which, is the tourney you're in on the one run by Brad schulman? I got that email yesterday and think I'm going to join that one, since my previous favorite (office-pools.com) is blocked from being accessed on our work computers, and shit-talking at work is basically the whole point for me. Damn you, Big Brother! If we're in the same league, you can witness as my magic happens. Plus, based on your stories to date, my odds sound better and better. That Knicks guy is in, right?
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