Madness

March Madness starts this week, and although the Super Bowl gets all the publicity and hype, this may just be is the most exciting three weeks in sports.

Every year, after Selection Sunday, I scour the internet for any information that will give me any type of edge. I buy all the New York newspapers, plus USA Today, reading scouting reports and looking at schedules to see if there are any weaknesses in the favorites or strengths in the underdogs that will result in an upset that would bust anyone else's bracket except for mine. I talk to various people, friends and enemies alike, face to face, on the phone, via IM, email, or on sports message boards, figuring out what they are thinking, but also hiding what I am thinking, because I don't want any of them to win. Because when it comes to March Madness, they are all my enemies, and I have to crush them and take the money that is rightfully mine.

I fill out my bracket for various pools (I definitely join the office pool, ESPN.com, and Yahoo, and if friends or acquaintances or people I meet on the street start one I'll get in on that too) and think that I'm going to win a lot of money. I think about the TVs and DVDs and hookers that I'm going to buy. Then eventually, inevitably, my bracket starts to fall apart. And March Madness turns into March Sadness. There are no TVDs and DVDs and hookers. There is only darkness, at least, until next year.

Well, this year is next year.

So, today, and for the next couple of days, I will get down in my bunker (actually, cubicle and/or room) and do my homework. I'll probably finalize my picks a little later on tonight, and I will go to bed thinking about all the money I am going to win. It's gonna be great. March Madness will be March Gladness.