2008 Woodie Awards
A city editor's first crack at a March Madness bracket
By: Tim Sampson
Issue date: 3/20/08 Section: Sports Commentary
For the first 21 Marchs of my life, I've always managed to stay sane and avoid "the madness."
Maybe I've spent too many hours in the newsroom or too many nights studying, but for some reason I've never taken the time to indulge in the perennial male rite of passage: filling out an NCAA men's basketball tournament bracket.
Some might say the reason I've never filled out a bracket is because I know nothing about basketball.
It is true that the only reason I ever watch ESPN is to see reruns of "American Gladiators" (because, frankly, the new episodes on NBC just don't cut it), but don't let my complete ignorance of sports fool you; I'm more than qualified to publish my tournament predictions. After all, I am the holder of several elementary school basketball camp certificates of participation, and I recently covered a Harlem Globetrotter game for this very newspaper - so I think I know what I'm talking about.
But I am entering the bracket process at a considerable disadvantage - mainly that I haven't seen a single NCAA men's basketball game this season. So rather than relying on skilled analysis of past game-play and athletic performance, I will be basing all of my decisions on a bizarre combination of superstition, nonsense and coin-flips.
I'm not going to lie, the guiding principle of my first, second and third round picks was which school had the shorter name. I'm a busy guy - news doesn't just stop while I fill out my bracket - and I didn't have time to write out long, hard-to-spell school names like Villanova or Mississippi Valley State. That's why I'm predicting an acronym-heavy Sweet 16.
But the choice became a bit more difficult when I got down to the elite eight. Likewise my reasoning became a bit more erratic.
In case it's not clear by now, I'm a geek. So I'm looking to Cornell to pull-off a revenge of the nerds and prove to the world that you can spend all your time studying and still be good at sports. But unfortunately, I see these guys getting knocked out in the fourth round. Hey Cornell, if you want to do better next year, maybe you should put down that copy of "War and Peace" and start running some layup drills!
Maybe I've spent too many hours in the newsroom or too many nights studying, but for some reason I've never taken the time to indulge in the perennial male rite of passage: filling out an NCAA men's basketball tournament bracket.
Some might say the reason I've never filled out a bracket is because I know nothing about basketball.
It is true that the only reason I ever watch ESPN is to see reruns of "American Gladiators" (because, frankly, the new episodes on NBC just don't cut it), but don't let my complete ignorance of sports fool you; I'm more than qualified to publish my tournament predictions. After all, I am the holder of several elementary school basketball camp certificates of participation, and I recently covered a Harlem Globetrotter game for this very newspaper - so I think I know what I'm talking about.
But I am entering the bracket process at a considerable disadvantage - mainly that I haven't seen a single NCAA men's basketball game this season. So rather than relying on skilled analysis of past game-play and athletic performance, I will be basing all of my decisions on a bizarre combination of superstition, nonsense and coin-flips.
I'm not going to lie, the guiding principle of my first, second and third round picks was which school had the shorter name. I'm a busy guy - news doesn't just stop while I fill out my bracket - and I didn't have time to write out long, hard-to-spell school names like Villanova or Mississippi Valley State. That's why I'm predicting an acronym-heavy Sweet 16.
But the choice became a bit more difficult when I got down to the elite eight. Likewise my reasoning became a bit more erratic.
In case it's not clear by now, I'm a geek. So I'm looking to Cornell to pull-off a revenge of the nerds and prove to the world that you can spend all your time studying and still be good at sports. But unfortunately, I see these guys getting knocked out in the fourth round. Hey Cornell, if you want to do better next year, maybe you should put down that copy of "War and Peace" and start running some layup drills!
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London
posted 3/20/08 @ 4:37 PM EST
Keefer Kravitz IS the Nerd of Soul !
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