Vernal Equinoxes and March Madness

Welcome to a special TGIF/Vernal Equinox Edition of Views. It's not been a bad day, although perhaps a bit on the cool side for the First Official Day of Spring. It's 39 degrees under partly cloudy skies at the Mini.

More important than the Vernal Equinox at this juncture is the arrival of March Madness. There are certain things in life that our culture demands of us as guys in America. Guys get to take out the trash. Guys get to change the light bulbs. Guys get to take care of getting the oil changed in the car. Guys have to know how to predict winners in the NCAA tournament.

In the larger sense, guys are expected to be able to discuss all sports with a degree of knowledge and interest. Some actually care about this stuff. Some just read the sports page daily so they have stuff to talk about with other guys. I actually care about some of it. Other stuff falls in the category of stuff I just read on the sports page. I haven't a clue about soccer or hockey, but I know the records of local teams and how they're doing at any given time. A Croatian friend actually took me to a soccer game once. It was an experience. I still don't get it. Thank God I don't know anyone who's into cricket.

As for hockey, I grew up in the South. I was never on ice skates until I was 40 years old. I lived in Minneapolis for a while and had to fake it in bars where the locals were watching it. Never yet been to a game. A friend that I run with keeps trying to give me tickets to hockey games or take me to hockey games. I may have to go yet, just for the experience, so I can check one more thing off the list. Between you and I, I think I'd rather go watch Australians play rugby. That looks like fun. I kind of get what a scrum is.

Back to the NCAA Tournament though. I followed pro basketball during the Michael Jordan years. It was fun. The home town team was always winning. Jordan was amazing. After he retired I tried to watch the Bulls for a while and found after a while that I just couldn't. They were and still are very mediocre. Once a year to watch the best college guys in the country,though, that's fun. I actually like it. I printed out a bracket this year and filled it in with my predictions.

This year there is one more little added plus. The President of the U.S. is a basketball fan. President Obama filled out an NCAA Tournament bracket. He's a real guy, like the rest of us. OK, he can't bowl for shit. That just raises his stock in my eyes. I know I'm better than this Harvard grad at something. I wouldn't actually go so far as to play basketball with him. I hear he's actually pretty good. I will put my basketball fan prediction abilities up against his, however, and his bracket is printed online for all to see.

Half the guys in the country are currently in a predict off with the Prez. It makes him real to us. It's kind of fun. Do you know more about something than the most powerful man on the face of the planet? I think I do and after Day 1 of the tournament the result is. R.D. Ray has more correct choices than Barack Obama. Woooooo! Hooooo! North Carolina win the whole shooting match. Not in your dreams Barry Baby. We're gonna see about that one.

Of course, when it comes to rescuing the country's economy and bringing an end to war in the Middle East, I'd put my money on Obama. R.D. may be good, but not that good. Now if I could just get Obama to put a couple of bucks on his picks to back up that bracket he set up.