Flatter Friday

Sitting around at my friend's hosue watching the nightcap of the Day 2, and it's safe to say, it's not as good as yesterday's affairs. Only one game's gone down to the wire that I've counted so far (Wisconsin v. Wofford), and it didn't really come down to a "last-second" shot per se. I guess I've amassed some high stnadardshere, but yesterday was absolutely one of the best days in sports I've EVER experienced.

I look at the scoreboard and I don't see anything to get too excited about: Duke blowing out Arkansas Some Place-Some Place by 19, Gonzaga boatracing Florida State at halftime, Michigan St. deciding the game before halftime, and ONE possible good game between OK St. at halftime.

The Big East was much-maligned yesterday and is doing much better today, but I wish I knew the Big 12 would look so good. ACC's not looking so good, Big 10's doing OK, and Big East has a big game (Louisville v. Cal) later.

My friend, btw, has a new dog and is trying to train her. My thoughts on dogs: Not worth my time, kinda of a burden, big commitment, and I'm not mature to maintain them. I do think that going and walking a dog is good exercise, but the varying schedules would be an annoyance for me. If I do start with pets, I gotta go with a low-commitment animal first, like a goldfish, versus high-maintenance pets like dogs or like, anacondas.

Here's a thought about monitoring your brackets: Obviously, part of the intrigue of the first few days of the NCAA tournament is rooting for teams on your piece of paper, picking 5-12 upsets that actually pan out or at least give the top dogs a run for their money. But really, Thursdays and Fridays of NCAA tournaments don't really determine anything if you're playing in a standard league (where 1st round is 1 point, 2nd round is 2, 3rd round is 4, etc.) All you're really rooting for is that your Sweet 16/ Elite Eight/ (and gasp) Final Four teams don't get knocked out early.....everything else is not that important. (Experienced gamblers, this may be painfully simple for you, but just trying to educate novice-intermediate NCAA bracketfillers). Also, in a pure mathematical sense, if you're SOLELY in it to win a bracket, to get a check at the end of it, it's probably mathematically accurate to pick straight chalk......no upsets, just pick the higher (or lower numerically) number in every matchup...... It's boring, you won't be commended for having balls of steel or being the life of the party, but at the end of the day, you're making the correct decision. Seriously, I might try it next year, especially with the last few years being dominated by No. 1 seeds and No. 2 seeds.

That brings up a good point about underdogs: People love 10+ seeds in the first days of the tournament for whatever reasons, either a.) cool name (Wofford or Siena), b.)geography, c.) saw them randomly at a bar and think they're the best team ever, d.) their alma mater, but they are like playing craps without a good strategy: Sucker bets. Vegas, and other people in your bracket, WANT you to pick those teams because in the long run, you keep picking upsets and you won't do well, cuz they just don't happen THAT often. But we keep betting them, because once in a while San Diego beats Connecticut, or Murray St. beats Vanderbilt, and we think it's a common event. Lesson learned.

Fantasize on,

Robert Yan