Hanging On By a Thread

Apparently I spoke way too soon in my last post.

Yes, I am by all accounts out of the big money pool I was in, which saddens me because I really could have used the nice pot at the end. But, what I didn't know was that I was and still am very alive in my own pool. The reason for the confusion?

I didn't understand my own scoring system.

In my pool, you get one point for each victory in round one, two in round two, four in the Sweet 16, eight in the Elite Eight, 16 in the Final Four, and 32 for picking the correct championship team. Oh, and throw in bonus points for upsets, a nice little ingenius tactic which Yahoo! allows users to enable.

So, through the Elite Eight, I'm currently losing to, of all people, my girlfriend by four points because she had the foresight (sarcasm) to pick Michigan State to make it to Detroit. My future brother-in-law Rav is third down by six, but more or less he is the favorite to win. He has Connecticut getting to the championship (16 points) and North Carolina winning both the semi-final and the title game (48 points). I need a small miracle: I need Kalin Lucas and Co. to defeat the mighty Huskies. For me, the tourney comes down to that game. If they win, I win. Is it possible? Honestly, if they can beat the Cardinals, why can't they beat UConn?

This is why I like blogging. If I wrote about this at a professional newspaper or online organization, I'd probably be slammed. "You're promoting gambling." I don't know, maybe I am. Maybe that's just the poker player in me. But, to me these pools are about more than the money. It's about bragging rights for the next year. The $100 or so profit I would make from winning this tourney is inconsequential. If the buy-in for this pool was $1, I really don't think anything would change. I'd still be on the edge of my seat, cheering for scenarios to unfold and sending my opponents into a crying frenzy.

If Asher Roth loves college, I love March.