Up until 6:00 last night, my Friday March Madness bracket was perfect.
Then, thanks to 3 rounds of Jameson in rapid succession, my evening came to an early end. Friends called Get Lifted to get me home.
It’s probably just as well I missed the evening games. I’d likely have been throwing things at the TV.
My upsets didn’t come through. Providence lost. Drake lost. Kent State lost.
Also, one more team in my bracket lost, but I was happy to get that one wrong: In the East region, 1-seed Purdue lost to 16-seed Fairleigh Dickinson. It was only the second time in tournament history that a 16 seed beat a 1. It meant Memphis would have an easy path to the Sweet Sixteen, able to get there without playing a 1 seed. They just had to win their 8-9 matchup against Florida Atlantic.
Memphis lost their 8-9 matchup. FAU put in a last-second buzzer-beater to win 66-65.
So, I checked the scores on ESPN’s website this morning and thought, “My bracket is shot all to hell.” Looking at my bracket league standings, I found myself not even in the top 50%, tied for 19th out of 35 participants. And, embarrassingly, I am losing to the two main butt sluts. Butt Slut #2 is tied for first with 26 points, while Butt Slut #1 is tied for 5th with 24 points.
But it’s really not as bad as it seems because
- At 22 points, I’m only 4 points out of first place. Games are worth 2 points starting today. So I only need 2 more wins than the field to slide into first place.
- All of my Elite Eight teams (Alabama, Creighton, Duke, Kansas State, Kansas, UCLA, Houston, and Texas) are still alive
- I have a max of 174 possible points given my picks and results so far. That’s actually in a one-way tie for second behind a league-leading 177. By contrast, Butt Slut #2 has a 116 point max and Butt Slut #1 has a 120 point max.
- 11 of the 35 participants’ picks for national champion lost in the round of 64.
My picks for today’s games:
- DON’T CARE – 5 San Diego State vs. 13 Furman – 11:10 AM, CBS – I picked 4 Virginia to be in this game and beat SDSU
- 5 Duke over 4 Tennessee – 1:40 PM, CBS
- 1 Kansas over 8 Arkansas – 4:15 PM, CBS
- DON’T CARE – 15 Princeton vs. 7 Missouri – 5:10 PM, TNT – got both first-round picks wrong
- 1 Houston over 9 Auburn – 6:10 PM, TBS
- 2 Texas over 10 Penn State – 6:45 PM, CBS
- 2 UCLA over 7 Northwestern – 7:40 PM, TNT
- 1 Alabama over 8 Maryland – 8:40 PM, TBS
Today is National Corndog Day. When’s National Pronto Pup Day? That’d be better.
Today is also National Sloppy Joe Day. Okay. For my readers who ate school lunches in the Little Rock School District in the 1980s, I have a theory. I think the BBQ sandwiches (the Tuesday special) and the Sloppy Joes (the Thursday special) were the EXACT SAME THING. What say you?
It’s also Maple Syrup Saturday. Get it atop strawberry or blueberry pancakes, which I’m sure will be one of the specials at Bardog brunch today, along with a grilled pork chop, lobster omelette, chicken-n-waffles, and some kind of blackened fish. As my DAWG John D used to say, if you have them every weekend, they aren’t specials.
Frank’s RedHot is coming out with a new dill pickle hot sauce.
The Grizzlies came back from down 29 to beat San Antonio 126-120 in overtime last night. Three players dropped in 20 or more points: Jaren Jackson Jr., Desmond Bane, and Tyus Jones.
The Orpheum reveals their 2023-24 Broadway season Monday, March 27. Register to attend
Law enforcement agencies are preparing for the possibility that the Trumpster could be indicted as early as next week. The charge would be in the Manhattan Criminal Court and would involve Mr. Tangerine Man allegedly paying hush money to Stormy Daniels.
Hey, Mr. Tangerine Man, pay a bribe to me…
Clothing store Odds Atelier has reopened following several smash-and-grabs.
Strooly and Tehkal play Central Station tonight from 9 to 1.
Dillon Brooks has been fined $35,000 for shoving a cameraman.
Lifedoc’s Healthier Memphis Gala comes to 409 S. Main on Thursday, March 23.
That’s it for today. Headed out to meet my friends Randy & Theresa and (briefly) Butt Slut #1 for Bardog brunch. Back tomorrow.