Friday Sports #3: March Madness Has Arrived! by Mamba Bryant

I’m a big time basketball fan. I watch all the basketball movies from Hoosiers (arguably the best basketball movie ever, I also have “Above The Rim” as a close second) to Teen Wolf 2 (arguably the worst basketball movie ever). I have all the Jordan tapes, watch as many games as possible and generally know the stats of the most obscure player currently playing in the NBA. (Von Wafer Portland Trailblazers 1.6 PPG 28% FG 70%FT) Also, I’m a big gambler. I bet on almost everything from UFC (Go Silva!) to boxing (by a hair Pacquiao!), to the NBA and college basketball. But nothing has prepared me for office (and school) pools of March Madness! I don’t know any of the teams aside from my favorite team North Carolina, where my favorite player ( MJ!!!) came from. Otherwise, I am blind as a bat!

So for this bracket, I will be testing the theory that luck plays more of a factor in choosing the correct brackets for March Madness. I will be pitting my luck against my friends in Carnegie Mellon University. These Americans, grizzled veterans of the college hoop scene and quantitative geeks (YEAH WE LIKE GEEKS!!! Check out our Superman vs. Thor post) have the supreme advantage over me. But I have the great equalizer!!! BEGINNER’S LUCK!

The definitive style I will use for this bracket will be the following:

- Pick the favorite unless a name stands out because some of these schools have the same name as schools in the Philippines.

- Choose the teams with superstars that have cool names (i.e. O.J. MAYO).

- Choose the team that is named after the city you currently live in.

- Do not put all four 1st seeds into the Final Four.

I believe that this will win me the 500 school pool.

Here is my bracket:



If I win, forget about analyzing your teams next year and just choose randomly. You’ll have a better shot of winning.