“The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.”
~ Charles Bukowski
To my way of thinking, filling out my NCAA men’s basketball brackets on the heels of a full, possibly over-the-top, immersion into Salt Lake City’s St. Paddy’s parade day shenanigans last Saturday gives me a huge leg up on the more-temperate hoop fans in our midst.
At least, clear-headedness has seldom, if ever, worked in my favor when confronting the complex intricacies involved in selecting which team will win a particular game in what has now become “March/April Madness.” One thing’s for sure, once my bracket goes bust this time around, moderation won’t be the culprit.
To demonstrate just how far adrift I’ve gone, did I mention I’ve got the University of Utah going to the “Sweet 16?” That’s right, the “Running Utes,” the team that ended the season trying to differentiate between its Output Port and a Hole in the Ground. Why, you ask? You got me!
Also, being a Hebertown kind of guy with tenuous-at-most connections to Happy Valley, I’ve got BYU winning its first two! Actually, as a “play-in” team, they might well win their first three and also end up in the Sweet 16. Why, in retrospect, am I undervaluing the “Coogs” while overvaluing my Utes? Because I can, that’s why!
Although I promised myself that, this year, I wouldn’t go all-in on the historically upset-rich Second Round 5-seed vs. 12-seed match-ups, as I peruse my ink-stained print bracket, I see that once again I have succumbed to wanton hubris. Not that there are not always at least a couple of upsets in these games, it’s just that they most often transpire when I pick the favorite.
I nearly always come out of the 12 vs. 5s with my ego looking like the “Spirit of ’76” fife-and-drum-corps cartoon. For some reason, however, learning from past mistakes is not a virtue to which I aspire. Goethe’s old saw that “by seeking and blundering we learn” rings hollow in these parts.
So here, in the form of exhibits A, B, C, and D, is the prosecutor’s case against your humble scribe. In the Midwest Region, I selected #12 Buffalo over #5 West Virginia. In the “West,” I took #12 Wofford over #5 Arkansas. Buffalo and Wofford? What was I smoking?
My “East” bracket has the favorite, #5 Northern Iowa, beating-up on #12 Wyoming, while, in the “South,” it’s my aforementioned #5 Running Utes running roughshod over #12 Steven F. Austin. Right! I could easily lose all four! Already, I can’t look at my bracket without cringing!
I suppose, as a way of further poisoning the well, I really should share with you the process that led to these individual stabs-in-the-dark. Mind you, I had already decided that I would go with the favorites, the #5 seeds, in all four contests.
But, somehow, through my way-less-than-rational filtering system, just prior to putting pen to paper, I decided that a pick against West Virginia equated to a vote against the “Clean Coal” lobby. See the logic I’m working against?
As far as my other upset pick, although I rooted for the Arkansas Razorbacks against the Duke Blue Devils in the National Championship game back in the day, it occurred to me that Wofford might just end up being this year’s Cameroon, an NCAA Basketball-Soccer World Cup juxtaposition, as it were.
Why I didn’t pick the obvious upset of the University of Wyoming over Northern Iowa in the East bracket is beyond me. What, did I forget that Chris LeDoux hailed from the Powder River country of Kaycee and that my favorite saloon and barkeep, Pete’s Rock N Rye and Stan Taggart, both repose on the Service Road along the northern outskirts of Evanston? I mean, how many signposts does a guy need?
And when push came to shove in the South bracket, no matter how inept they appeared late in the season, I just couldn’t bring myself to pick against Utah. The old adage about “not picking with your heart” went sailing out the window, followed closely by the bracketology skill set I rode in on which, I must admit, was driven mostly by Jameson and Bailey’s.
Per Bukowski’s adage, I have total confidence in my doubts!
Jay Meehan is a culture junkie and has been an observer, participant, and chronicler of the Park City and Wasatch County social scenes for more than 40 years.