perfidy

Some pursuits are more trivial than others. Among the most trivial, NCAA March Madness pools.

Why would I say this? Simple - I participate in at least one, every year, and I'm normally mathematically eliminated by halftime of the "play in" game. What better reason to call an activity trivial than the simple fact that you suck at it? I've no idea why I've done so poorly in most of the last 20 years or so, but there you have it, and it must be due to the triviality of the undertaking (he says to himself).

But not this year, no sirree.

I'm participating in a Toronto-based pool, run by a couple guys whose NFL pool I also joined this past season, and as of 7:30PM Saturday, March 18, I'm tied with one other guy for 13th place out of 75 poolsters. I've given up trying to figure out my odds, say, of beating the poor bastard whose pick for NCAA Champion (Kansas) has already bitten the green weenie. My only clear misstep so far was in thinking Tennessee might make the Final Four.

And my ace in the hole appears to be the (soon to be proven retarded, I'm sure) presumption that my Ohio State Buckeyes will lose to nobody but Duke. In that particular bit of fantasy, I appear to be alone, which will stand me in good stead should lightning strike and I end up correct.

Wait - it just occurred to me why I continue this trivial pursuit: It's just about the only time all year that I find college basketball interesting. It's surely not that, in the abstract, I actually give a care who wins. But now I at least have a specific reason to root for Ohio State against Florida, which has to make me fairly unique, among Texans.