March Madness - Family Style

Frankly, I could care less about March Madness NCAA Men's Basketball. BYU is the only team that I follow and I rarely even watch their games. But for the past few years my extended family has filled out brackets before the tournament and we have a friendly game. Because Neal got so into following the games and our brackets a few years ago, my dad decided to let him play.

This was Neal's second year filling out his bracket. Neal has the tendency to be obsessive and he was definitely obsessive about this tournament. I filled out my bracket, picking mostly the top seeded teams to win (I mean, really, what do I know?). I filled out the bracket before BYU beat Iona and I had the winner of that game losing in the first round. After BYU beat Iona, I briefly considered modifying my bracket out of loyalty to my Alma mater but decided against it. Neal, however, is a much more loyal fan. He had BYU going much farther.

For most of the game play, I was nicely in the lead. I had the most wins and was alone in first place. But by the time we got to the Final Four, Neal started telling me that it was now "impossible for me to win." I only had Kentucky left and while I had picked Kentucky to win even this would not give me enough points to beat either Neal or my brother Nate. I was really starting to get tired of Neal reminding me at every possible moment that it was indeed "impossible for me to win." Annoying!

Saturday night was the Ohio State vs. Kansas game. Neal had picked Kansas to go to the finals with Kentucky. Nate had picked Ohio to go to the finals with Kentucky. For a moment I was confused who I should cheer for. Who would be less obnoxious to lose to? After all, Nate and I have had a long running, friendly rivalry (he cheers for Utah). On the other hand, I had to live with Neal and he was getting increasingly annoying. I decided it would be much nicer for me if Ohio won (I really couldn't believe that the day had come that I was looking forward to losing to my brother). Unfortunately, that was not the case.

Neal, having picked both teams in the final and Kentucky for the win, has secured bragging rights and the win.

Heaven help me! Until next year . . .