The March to Madness

Russ: Man, I’ve been waiting for March big-time. Easily the best basketball you will see the rest of the year. Very exciting! Shoot, big wins, even bigger upsets, tough losses, last-second shots—I mean, can you really pick a decent bracket?

John: I feel pretty good about what I know this year.

Russ: What do you have going on in yours?

John: Well, I’ll agree with you about one thing: it’s always tough to predict these games, which is what makes it worth watching, right? However, I do have some thoughts and predictions. Now, Houston, as of today, very late February, is ranked number 1, but there’re a few other teams in the race to win this tournament. The Big Ten’s Purdue, UCLA; shoot, even Northwestern from out in Evanston.

Donald: Northwestern, huh?

John: Yeah, they’ve been pretty good. Now, I’ll get back to who’ll win this, but the real drama for me lies with the 3 proud blue blood teams: North Carolina, Duke, and Kentucky: All 3 are on the bubble.

Patrick: Wow. Apparently, I have not been paying attention like I should have.

John: Yeah, if those three all miss the tournament, it would be the first time since 1965— the year UCLA won back-toback national titles—that these 3 didn’t make it.

Russ: I knew I hadn’t heard a ton about those three this year.

Patrick: What do you have going in your pre-known bracket?

Russ: All right, so here’s my take. First off, I’m pulling for all of my Illinois teams to make it into the tourney—Illinois Fightin’ Illini, Northwestern, etc. Also, now, I heard John just mention that the Tar Heels of North Carolina are on the bubble and, strangely, I know this, but still feel confident they will make it and could, possibly, do well. I mean, there is the Michael Jordan alum factor.

Donald: True.

John: You got a point. That said, though, I’m rolling with UCLA to do a lot of damage in this tournament. But, again, I do feel there’re quite a few teams who could pull it off. Purdue, Indiana, Marquette, Kansas, USC, Arizona, Arizona State…

Patrick: A helluva list. Although, I’m not sold on Indiana. I know they’re good, but they’ve been losing quite a bit.

Donald: Of course, now, they could’ve gotten their losses out the way.

Russ: True. I guess the bottom line is that with this tourney, there’s no tomorrow when you lose. Lose and you’re out— point blank. Though I’m always excited for the madness, this year I’m doubly pumped. It’s been a really strange year: I mean, nobody’s dominating anybody.

Patrick: I won’t lie, fellas, I’m glad y’all are in on this, because I just haven’t been watching college ball enough to have a good opinion other than I absolutely can’t wait till the Madness begins. Seriously, I’m geeked.

Russ: You know what other part of this madness I’m excited about? The women’s side of things.

Donald: Now, that’s what I’m talking about! This year, I’m not doing any brackets or anything. However, I will watch the women do their thing out there. We’ll see what’s really going on with it. So, y’all watch y’all’s and I’ll watch mine.

Patrick: Now, Donald, we can watch it all. I love women’s basketball—not as much yet as I do men’s basketball—so you can sit there and watch only one side of it, but I’m watching it all.

Russ: Co-signing!

Vendors Russell Adams, John Hagan and Donald Morris chat about the world of sports with Executive Assistant Patrick Edwards.

Any comments or suggestions? Email pedwards@streetwise.org