Eric Perkins

I'm a Fool

Every year, I get sucked into an NCAA Tournament Pool. Actually, for me, it's one step worse. I am the one who steps up and organizes the thing.

Let it be known, that as a general rule, sportscasters are notoriously bad at pools like this.

In most instances, we tend to overthink the tourney matchups, and pay the price for trying to be too clever.

Every once in a while, you hit one like Virginia Commonwealth beating Duke, but in most cases, you get burned by picking Memphis to get to the finals.

This year, at last check, I'm in 20th place out of 30 or so entries. Fine. Whatever. I'll take my medicine.

I must say though, what truly burns me, is the way I get beaten.

Currently, much of the top 5 in the standings are gals that in no way work in sports, which is great! Kudos to them all for kicking our butts! But upon picking their brains further, I developed some resentment.

"So, what made you pick Georgetown in the Final Four?" "I love that nickname, Hoyas. How cool is that?"

And then another person... I inquired about their nearly impeccable bracket. "Why Florida?" "Well, I heard they were pretty good." "Yeah, they are. The Gators won it all last year, ya know." "No I didn't know that...is Florida the Gators?"

OK, I am bitter. Years of toiling at this, contemplating venue sites, and records against top 25 teams, etc, has gotten me nowhere.

From here on out, if I like the fact U.C.L.A. has baby blue and gold jerseys, I'm going with it. In the meantime, bring on baseball!

perkout