Bracketology

Let the games begin. All of us in our family have made our picks and filled in our brackets. Some of us have chosen our picks based only a scientific mixture of ratings, seeds, and learned knowledge about the teams. I, however, tend to go with a more subjective mix of factors:

1)First, I generally take in the advice of whichever son is near me when I choose - since they have that scientific mix of knowledge as described above and I brought them into this world, surely I can borrow some of that.

2)I do also look at what the teams are seeded as they come in the tournament. I figure those little numbers are there for a reason.

3)However, the above two factors can easily be supplanted by some other emotional factor. Such as simply not wanting some teams to get too far. (Such as, say, Pitt, or Syracuse.) Or perhaps I like their coach and feel like he should have a good run at the tournament (such as John Belein. I forgive him for abandoning WVU, and feel like he's a good coach). Sometimes I feel sorry for team, such as wanting Gonzaga to not lose again in the first round as they have done several years in a row now. Or sometimes I let one player's faults flavor my opinion of the whole team. (Again, I must mention Syracuse, which as I understand it has a player who should have been kicked out of school for assault charges, but somehow was not. I think fair is fair. If you deserve to be off the team, you should be off, no matter how good you are.)

4)If all of the above fails, I always go for uniform colors. Some uniform combinations are just too hard to cheer for.

So there you have it - Bracketology by Julie. May the best (or best-dressed) team win.