I've learned a couple things the last couple of days:

1. Brackets are stupid. I stopped caring about my brackets as soon as Friday came along I started to think that North Texas could beat Memphis and Texas A&M Corpus Christi could beat Wisconsin. When I saw that the Miami (Ohio) coach was a wearing an ill-fitting turtle neck and was losing his hair I found myself halfway rooting for them against the Ducks. And yesterday, well, almost every single game yesterday had moments where it seemed that the higher seed might pull off an upset, and believe me, I was cheering for the little bracket busters every time.

2. I think my dad is right when he calls me an albatross for teams (meaning I cheer for losers). I don't know if they lose because I cheer for them, or if some sad little part of me cheers for them because I know they'll lose. But oh, did yesterday hurt. Xavier, VCU, MSU, Boston College? You guys broke my heart. The one game where I wasn't cheering for the upset (WSU vs. Vanderbilt) I still ended up cheering for the loser!


2. a) Hey, how cool is it that CBS is posting highlights of the games on YouTube? It's a good way to generate interest and it means I get to link you all to some video content. We're working with all media here! How fancy.

3. Ducks are playing this afternoon, and even though they looked a little sluggish in the first round, I'm hopeful that they can get their stuff together for the game today. The optimist in me thinks that it was a good sign that they could grind out a game against a tough lower seed, even though they never caught fire and pulled away. It shows maturity and a willingness to suck it up and deal even if the shots aren't falling at first. Of course, I expect the most likely way of things today will be a big Winthrop upset (which I can't really enjoy because I'm cheering for Oregon) and a sweep of the underdogs in the other games.

Hopefully the underdogs will at least get my hopes up by playing tough. That way it will be more discouraging when they blow it in the end. Woohoo! Let the Madness continue!