This is a special time of year in our home, the time of year when Dan and I fill out competing brackets predicting who we think will emerge victorious in the NCAA National Basketball Tournament. Dan and I have decidedly different methods of choosing our winners.
Dan puts great effort and time into analyzing the records of the teams, their strengths and weaknesses, and how they will most likely play against each other. In effect, he does the math.
I, on the other hand, ask the following series of questions about each team: Who is from a town I have been to, that is in the South, or that I would like to visit some day? If neither team falls into that category, or if it's absolutely clear that the one I like is going to lose, I pick the top-seeded team. But by and large, I go with my gut. I watch zero college basketball prior to March Madness, and I have no idea who has an even remotely decent team.
Here's the kicker: For the last three years, my teams have THUMPED Dan's. The first year we did this, he laughed at me when I explained how I was picking, but his picks were out in the first round, and one of mine went to the finals!
So today, we've chosen our teams. I had a slight conundrum in that I could, conceivably, have pitted Memphis against Tennessee in the final round, but in the end, I chose Duke and Tennesee to go all the way, and Duke to win it all. Dan has Duke and Florida going up against each other at the end, with Florida winning.
From now on, Dan will watch most of the games, and if history repeats itself, I will watch a few and, for the most part, sit back and laugh. The fun part about this is that I have actually come to enjoy watching the tournament, because what everyone says about the virtues of college basketball versus professional leagues is true: In college, it's really anyone's game, and it's so much more emotionally-driven. So it's fun to watch, and a little lighthearted competition with the husband is a nice diversion, too.
Perhaps this will be the year that my reign will end and Dan's more logical system will prevail.
But I doubt it.