Having made my thoughts on March Madness crystal clarion, I met with some resistance from the hardwood posse. They Luca’ed my Brasi on the matter by refuting my faluting with the kind of trash talk that gets my Hemi humming; all cheek, no meek. Buried in the vitriolic wreckage, however, was a genuine misconception about my opinion of college basketball in general and their postseason tournament in particular.
I don’t hate it.
There was a time when I actually loved the stuff. And then progress transformed the sport from a Gene Hackman matinee to a Gene Simmons midnight rager. Where rosters once went five deep, now most clubs are lucky if they have two all-stars, and they’re even luckier if they get two seasons out of them. The talent pool is dispersed like never before thanks to cable deals that expand the number of destination campuses exponentially. There’s also the matter of NIL, which allows highly sought after recruits to create their own brands rather than build their professional equity on the shoulders of a big brand school. And let’s face it, the lure of next level dinero is hard to pass up if your comps are collecting NBA paychecks. It can be argued, and I’ve heard these arguments all week long, that the sport is more interesting this way. And maybe it’s true . . . but not enough for me to tune in.
Nonetheless, I have taken the pushback to heart and so, for the haters, Imma extend an olive branch. Sort of.
Here then is my bracket for March Madness 2023, hot on the heels of my office pool win last year. (Editors Note: My office pool win last year followed the Congressional blueprint of total guesswork and dumb luck). I filled that fucker out the way George Santos fills out his resume, so anyone who uses my choices for the purpose of wagering? Well, you must really hate your money.
My bracket works a little differently from all these big name, overhyped prognosticators out there in that I have automatically deleted more than half the field because I feel like sixty-eight candidates is ridiculous. This ain’t the GOP presidential field, people!
Some of the more prominent names I kicked to the curb? Sure why not . . .
Alabama– If you ain’t up on this awful story about how society values wins and losses more than it does human life, read this piece by Candace Buckner.
Purdue- I recognize this name for chicken, not hoops.
Kansas- I prefer the rock and roll band.
Houston- The Astros call it home, so nope.
Okay, so the top seeds are out in my ball breaking bracket busting scenario but I’m not simply ganging up on goliaths here. There are several lesser regarded clubs I can’t be down with either. Like Iona, because that’s what you name a kid you can’t stand. And Drake, whose songs possess as much appeal as root canal. Oral Roberts reminds me that televangelism was the father of ‘QAnon and Indiana is the mother of Bobby Knight and . . and . . Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas are a bunch of kissing cousins who keep the cheap beer industry going.
Teams I dig include . . .
Furman- Because I’m sure OJ doesn’t have them in his bracket. See what I did there?
Charleston- Alumni include Darius Rucker, Art Shell, Lauren Hutton and Stephen Colbert. Plus, they are home to the River Dogs. Sold!
Creighton- This happens to be the name of the love child I had with Vera Farmiga back in the eighties. Oh shit . . I said that out loud?
Colgate- Nine out of ten dentists surveyed have this school in their brackets.
Grand Canyon- I loved the movie with Kevin Kline and Danny Glover.
Miami- Duhhhh!
Kennesaw State- Mark Twain would’ve picked them. I’m sure of it.
As for my Final Four prediction, in the Thelonious Monk bracket . . .
I’m going with Georgetown even though they ain’t in the dance. Because I’m old enough to remember when they were a fixture in the tourney with the legendary John Thompson. The Hoyas will face off against Duke: the 1990-92 editions who were delightful villains and my favorite college teams ever. Obviously, they ain’t in the dance either so I’m putting them there.
In the Michael Jordan Is The Goat bracket . . .
The Pittsburgh Pythons might be a fictional professional basketball team from the 1979 flick The Fish that Saved Pittsburgh but so what? With the great Julius Erving in the role of Moses Guthrie, the team turns to astrology in a last ditch effort to save the moribund franchise. They change their name to Pisces and make a title run. Top that Jim Nantz! The Pythons will go against the Miami Hurricanes, because this is MY bracket and my dream scenario. I realize there isn’t much chance that a bunch of college kids are going to beat Julius Erving in his prime, but hey, that’s why they play the games, right?
As for crowning a champion, I tossed with calling it a tie since I love all four contestants but that would be entirely unrealistic. So Imma go with my Hurricanes to ring in April with their first ever hoops title. Their magical run proves such an inspiration that the Heat also make an improbable run to the title. After which the Dolphins make it a hometown trifecta by winning the Super Bowl, and the Marlins? Are in attendance!
Welp, I sincerely hope this will serve as an apology to any college basketball fans I may have offended. And as an added bonus, this post doubles as a drinking game: For every ridiculous prediction, shot! Please make sure to drink responsibly . .
. . .ish.
Alas, after Day One much of my Bracket lies in tatters. Mrs. Chess already has leapt ahead in the home version of March Madness, and I am sure more woe awaits on Day Two. Sigh. The Fish may have saved Pittsburgh, but nothing can save my picks…not even the Pittsburgh Panthers. That being said, I have the same Day One number of winners as ESPN expert Jay Bilas has, so there’s that. Congrats on Creighton Farmiga…I assume Mom’s name was taken.
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Well listen Bruce, Mrs. Chess winning the home version might take a jab at your pride but the domestic peace is well worth it.
The Pitt Panthers . . . even with Dan Marino, probably wouldn’t rate a chance. Especially since he’s like sixty years old now, and cannot hit free throws to save his life.
I think you’re going to kick Bilas’s ass when all is said and done.
It’s a personal matter. I don’t want to anger Mr. Vera Farmiga . . you understand.
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Give me the names of those who don’t accept this apology, Pilgrim. I’ll have Tiny go get a reverse decision. Fine post
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It’s good to have you on my side, Boss.
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😁
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Hackman to Simmons perfectly describes the madness! I was tickled about the first big upset yesterday. That’ll make loads of peeps lose their minds. Round 1 and 2 open today at Ball Arena. I can only hope for more upsets. Namely the criminals from Alabama but doubt it’ll happen. One can hope though.
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Ugh, it does, doesn’t it?
What upset? What’d I miss?
I was listening to the Kornheiser podcast and he extrapolated on the “upset” dynamic beautifully. Upsets don’t start until the 4 vs 13, and I would have to agree. The upsets are artificially created and let’s face it, even if 16 takes out a 1, these ARE kids we’re talking about.
The Alabama situation is sickening
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No. 13 Furman beat No. 4 Virginia (15th seed over the second seed if I’m not mistaken) yesterday ruining about 20M brackets. That whole Alabama thing stinks to high heaven. Despicable.
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Wow! And I kinda like UVA, in general, because they always get short shrift being in the same conference with Duke and UNC.
It’s awful.
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I think that’s what they call “dream” teams?
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For me, yes . . yes they are.
And you have three votes for the Wendy’s as I was doing an informal poll. It’s Chick with 5, Popeyes with 2 . . . I’m in last place!
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B
It is so very rare that I am faced with the impossibility to give a proper tit to your tat! I know nothing. Like, absolutely NUTHIN’ about March Madness or college basketball or who’s the creeps vs who’s the good guys…
All I can do is simply enjoy reading your entertaining prose whilst nodding my head and smiling at your wittiness.
Even when I am clueless to the subject, I still enjoy your delivery! So, that’s pretty damn good, if you ask me.
And I didn’t even need to be waken up because I was not go-going anywhere. But I did boogie to the tune!
Q
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Q
You and me are in the same boat these days. Which means we should’ve filled out a bracket with the cats. They would’ve kicked our asses though.
Only team to root against: Alabama.
Your private lessons on sarcasm are really helping me out! I am going to pass the test next time!
The delivery is the thing.
George Michael is so young in that video! Holy Christ!
B
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Oh, no… You’re in the boat, I’m on the shore looking on helplessly! Now cats? Whole ‘nother ballgame… hyuck hyuck hyuck!
Got it! Alabama sucks! Boooo!
Pass it? You’re gonna ACE it!
You always deliver.
A baby is what he is!
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I’m in a boat and it’s called the Titanic and James Cameron’s grandpa is licking his chops at the idea . . .
A team to root against, there is no doubt.
You think?
MUAH!
True!
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Pffft! You funny bunny.
That’s good. At least I can do that much.
I know.
MWAH!!
He was a cutie, even if he played for the other team – mostly!
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That’s me, funny. The bunny part, I’m not so sure about.
MUAH!!
Haha!
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Oh you can be rather snuggly when you want.
MWAH!!
😉
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A snuggly buggly . . .
MUAH!!
😉
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All mine 😉
MWAH!!
😘
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Mmmmm.
😘😘
MUAH!!
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💖
MWAH!
😘
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I had to look up where is Furman College? I was like Holy Cheeseballs Furman and Princeton messing with everything everywhere 🙂 and I dig Creighton. They always make it to the Sweet Sixteen in my bracket … something about them, probably the Vera connection. Must be. But I always love Zag ever since John Stockton days. And Duke without Coach K? I like the Blue Devils but Coach K was HUGE. I love your breakdown and I COMPLETELY AGREE with you on Alabama. WHAT?! I’m hoping they lose so fast and a terrible fashion. What they did was awful. I mean c’mon! Priorities are whack down there. Glad some people are talking about it.
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Did Furman win? I know Princeton pulled an upset against someone, which is very cool. Always nice to see the Ivy League schools do something in the tourney, even if I ain’t watching it.
The Zag for the win this yea? Probably not, but it would be fitting, in a year when they are not picked to actually make it, I don’t think
Coach K was everything. I miss him but he put the school on the basketball map and I’ll think they have a decent chance to win a couple games and maybe even push for a Final Four appearance, who knows?
I never root against a team, except for in this tournament, because my God, this was beyond wrong, to allow that kid to be out there with a murder investigation going on and him being right in the middle of it. If he hadn’t been the star of the team, he would be long gone.
Thank you Cali!
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It’s good when you have surprises, although sometimes those rankings are ehhhh. But yeah Furman was a trip. Nope they didn’t win, they ended up losing as did Duke. But they still had some surprises today, which is always good. I like the underdog magic, when it’s authentic, not played up for the Madness aspect. Just regular old you underestimated me and now … it’s on. I dig that 🙂
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I know that some of the big dogs are out, and I must say I was sad to see Duke bow out so early but hey, that’s why it’s’ madness right?
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Umm, okay. I’m sure I’m smiling but I can’t figure out why.
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Haha! Just go with it . . .
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