NCAA Tournament

know nothing about sports. Okay, next to nothing. However, I did enter in my youth groups bracket tournament challenge. Mainly because it cost my nothing and I might be able to win a candy bar (or respect). To fill out my brackets I did my usual: I picked teams to win if I had friends or relatives living in the state, liked the name of the college, if it did well last year etc. My 'strategy' worked this year. I am a frontrunner. Yes, that's right I'm one of apparently 10 people in the country (only a slight exaggeration) who picked a team that actually ended up in the Final Four. That team? Florida. Why? I have several relatives who live there. When I found out that not only am I running second in the youth group's brackets, but if I had entered a pool at work I would have beat out all the guys I work with I started feeling a little smug and self-satisfied. Here is a following conversation:

Me: Hey, Ralph (name changed to protect the guilty), guess how I did on my brackets?

Ralph: I don't even want to know

Me: I picked someone in the Final Four! Florida!

Ralph: Well, you shouldn't have picked them (sourly)

Me: But they made it! And guess how I did it?

Ralph: Don't tell me!

Me: I have relatives who live there

Ralph: I don't *#)$#(% want to hear how people *)#$*#)($* win because they picked their $(%)$()(@# teams based on how they like the #*)$%(#$) animal the mascot is or how cute the*($)%(#$) team uniforms are. )#($%)(#$%...

At this point I walked out the door, only to walk back in armed with helpful advice from another co-worker on how to handle Ralph.

Me: You know Ralph, if you want, I can always help you pick out your teams next year...

I am such a snot.