Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Right post, wrong daily QB

Though I sometimes link Mr. Gregg Easterbrook's Tuesday Morning Quarterback, I am no player of favorites among days of the week. Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback is also a fun read, and unlike TMQ, he posts during the off-season as well.

This week I got to him a day late, and the final item of his "Ten Things I Think I Think" caught my eye. Specifically, #10-B: So I didn't follow college basketball this year at all, but I'm like everybody else: I wanted to fill out a bracket... I woke up Thursday morning, knowledge-less, and said, "I've got to get a bracket filled out here. What do I do?''

He tuned in to sports radio, listened closely to the show's guest, former coach Fran Fraschilla, and cribbed heavily.

Well, it turned out about as badly as did my own entry in the Big Al Annual Five-Dollar Disappointment at work. Personally, I knew I was hosed when I saw Sports Guy's bracket and realized that two of his four regionals were nearly identical to mine. Whenever our football picks coincide we usually drag each other down to the bottom, so I was cringing most of the first round. (I hit 23 of 32, not terrible, but that just got me to unclench enough to watch my brackets go bye-bye on Saturday. In fact, I did marginally better than Simmons, who lost one of his Final Four about three hours into the tournament. We shall now light each other on fire.)

Oh - back to Mr. King. This sentence shot out as I read: In the Washington, D.C., regional, Fraschilla is bullish on Seton Hall. ... I'm listening to Fraschilla, and saying, "Seton Hall? Are you high? They lost to Rutgers -- TWICE -- and to DePaul, and to Richmond, Northwestern and St. John's.'' But OK, I dutifully fill in Seton Hall for two wins.

I could have told him that it could only end in tears. Scroll down to comment number three. And Mr. King, next time, I promise I'll post it here as well so we can both avoid embarrassment; for unlike you, who trusted expert opinion, I wrote that reply and STILL took the Hall in the opening game. I shall now jump off a tall fixed point, face-first.

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