why, brackets, of course!!!
(part two)


you'd be disappointed if i didn't say something about the brackets, right? no. no, you wouldn't. the only thing in sports more annoying to hear about than someone else's fantasy football team is their bracket(s) come march madness. but, it's tradition.

this year will be a little different, though. i am writing today before the brackets are revealed, and i am writing to tell you this. this year is my year. it's been a couple years, now, since i've taken my bracket pool. i am convinced that this year is my year for one simple reason. i have watched less college basketball this 2007-2008 season than i have in five years. it's not even close. and because of this simple fact, i already feel like i am the leader in the clubhouse.

"why?", you ask. having watched very little college basketball will prevent me from getting hung up on things like "what team i think is good" and "this team really hung with north carolina back in november". i have no idea who carolina played in november, and that lack of knowledge should serve me beautifully.

i enter this year's competition with these few things in my favor. 1) i do still spend a lot of time online with espn, si and tons of blogs, so i am not completely uninformed as to who "should" perform well. 2) i care nothing about mid-majors. never have. never will. this means that i will better at least a couple folks in my pool that fall under jay bilas' spell and believe drake will make the second weekend. 3) most importantly, i am not a girl. this should, at the very least, place me above sarah, donna, amy, katie and any other female that should dare step into our battle for bragging rights. i will not be swayed by team colors, player "cute"ness or any other random girl factor.

you may be wondering where my confidence comes from. you may not. if you were, it's mark gottfried. yep. that mark gottfried. having complete faith in his inability to manage a talented alabama team without an injured ronald steele allowed me to tune out college basketball back in early december. mark gottfried's name will be the first one spoken when i hand myself the trophy in just over three weeks. heck, i will go ahead and count my chickens before they hatch and throw a big "thank you" mark's direction this afternoon. you've earned it, sir. as kiker, andy and i (among others) agreed on many years back, the best thing that can be said about mark gottfried's coaching is that he's a great recruiter. roll tide.

as soon as i've created the "friends of huffman" pool, i'll post the link here as well as e-mail it out. feel free to join us. there is no money involved. just the opportunity to make me eat my words and prove yourself more adept at using very little skill and very little reason to pick winners of college basketball games than your friends.

i'll toss out a few bad and random predictions before the games begin. 'til then, pick responsibly.