I know nothing about basketball. Nothing. That's why when my roommate suggested that I make a March Madness bracket, I laughed in her face. But hey, there's no reason why not to, right? So I opened up my university's pool and began.
I picked a few teams that were the favorites -- I'm not that thick -- but I also picked a lot of upsets.
"Yale?" My roommate asked looking over my shoulder with confusion. "You know that's the dumbest pick ever, right?"
I have been obsessed with Yale since I was in 3rd grade, so when I saw them in the round of 68 teams, I got excited. Even though their odds of winning were awful, I knew I had to pick them. Maybe it was the fact that this is their first time being in March Madness since the 60s and I thought that would give them some extra fire, or maybe it was the fact that their mascot is the Bulldogs which makes them the perfect underdog. Either way, I picked them and low and behold -- they won.
After that, I texted a friend of mine who has had extreme success in the past with his bracket (falling in the 99th percentile) and that cockiness manifests when he swears that he holds all the secrets to being successful in choosing his bracket. Yet he had not picked Yale. He had also not picked Hawaii.
That was the craziest and most ridiculous pick I made -- Hawaii. My roommate, who is well versed in college basketball, told me if they won, she would buy me dinner because there was no shot. Lucky for me, they made a lot of shots, and I have a free dinner now.
But that's just it. It is luck. At the end of the day, I really didn't know what I was doing, but who does? It's not possible to know!
All the top experts predicted Michigan State would win it all. In probably the biggest upset of the tournament, Michigan State lost in the FIRST round to a nobody of a team. Immediately, almost every single basketball enthusiast's bracket had that error, many of who had the team going very far.
My cocky friend, now vitriolic, texted me saying “My bracket is done. I don’t care anymore.”
This is all luck. All of it. As much as you plan and try to use stats to predict, this year's tournament proves more than any that this all comes down to dumb luck.
So maybe I'm psychic or maybe I'm just one top-notch lucky charm, but either way, I'm crushing it with my bracket, leaving some distraught college boys, who aren't doing as well as me, a girl who knows next to nothing about basketball.
So come on people! Stop taking these things so seriously! Instead of putting money on your brackets and betting your life on your picks, you may as well be having some fun. Take a risk! Choose the next Hawaii or Yale! Ruffle some feathers.
Maybe this is a sign for everyone out there. Stop taking everything in life so seriously. Sometimes you have to sit back, laugh, have some fun.
Oh and choose long shot Villanova as the victor because they have a fun name.
