I'm Rattled...

I am rattled. I am very rattled. Every year when the NCAA Tournament brackets are announced I begin my research of all the teams in the field. I discover disturbingly useless information like computer rankings and RPI. I learn what time of day teams play best in, and how they fare on back-to-back nights. I learn how many seniors they have, and how many freshmen they start. All of this for attempting to fill out the best bracket of all my friends. Think this is silly? Think again. I am fighting for the bragging rights of college basketball braket supremacy for the entire year. But every year the field of 64 seems harder to predict. With the growing existence of parity in college basketball, any team can beat another on a give night. Top ranked high school players aren't just choosing the Carolina's, Duke's, and UCLA's anymore. Now they want to turn small programs like St. Joes and Drake around to beat these powerhouses. Such decisions only make handicapping the jam packed tournament even harder. Choosing the 11 seed over the 6 seed isn't easy. It is hard, really hard. The challenge of pulling such a trigger is why I am so rattled. I do not want to make a mistake. I'm terrified of doing so. The NCAA Tournament isn't just important; it's monumental. Yes I will forget all of the useless information by next month, but I won't forget my 2nd consecutive year of victory. At group functions or night clubs, I will reign as champion. My knowledge will be feared. I must win "bracket challenge."