March Madness makes me MAD!!!!

And by "mad" I mean CRAZY mad for NCAA basketball!!!

Yeah, I'm not really sure why I'm suddenly so obsessed with this March Madness mess. But I filled out a bracket for the first time ever this week, and as of 11:00 this morning I've been GLUED to the scores.

See, it's a bracket for my office. It's free to enter, but we get prizes every week if we are winning each week.

And I like prizes.

It's a huge deal at my office. Every time a game ends, you'll hear a round of moans mixed with shouts of joy as we all check the brackets to see our progress. Then the guys go off on all the stats and whatever, shouting it back and forth because our office is a huge open area, and the girls go look for cake in the kitchen and chat American Idol and how on EARTH Sanjaya is still on the show.

If any work gets done over the next three weeks, it will be a miracle.

But sitting here tonight with my laptop in my lap all night watching the scores (I determined this was a more efficient way to keep up with the whole thing because I can watch all four games going on simultaneously PLUS I can watch Grey's Anatomy at the same time), I discovered that even if I don't win prizes, I'm obsessed with how our rankings fluctuate after every game.

At one point today I was tied for second place. Now I'm somewhere in the middle of the pack. Towards the top of the middle. But still in the middle.

I can check everyone else's brackets, and I've already determined that this is going to be a bitter duel to the end for me and the girl who sits next to me at work. Last year, this girl had no idea what March Madness was or that the little numbers next to the team names are their rankings. What's worse is that I was the one who had to explain it to her. Last time I checked (which was five minutes ago, and again five minutes before that), she was in SECOND PLACE. Her bracket is almost exactly the same as mine, with the exception of a few teams in the first round. As the rounds progress, we will end up with the exact same picks.

It's MIND BOGGLING.

Now, to be quite honest, I actually enjoy the numbers and the statistics more than watching the games themselves. To me, this whole March Madness extravaganza will exist mostly on the computer, checking scores, stats, and bracket rankings.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the basketball, too. I will watch games later on. But for now, CBS Sportsline live game updates is where my passions lie.

I've had a minor bout with depression this evening watching the numbers on my screen tell me that Duke lost. But if Gonzaga and Xavier can pull in two wins, I'll be in good shape and ready to stare at the scores tomorrow.

C.T.

PS: This post is to reach out to all of my dude readers out there.