Off My Game

Random thoughts from this weekend:

My schedule got all turned around. I wish I knew how to hit the reset. I am feeling pretty restless for 9:45 on a Sunday night.

I got only one of the Final Four teams right. So did President Obama, who knows a thing or two about basketball. I guess I shouldn't feel bad.

It is wonderful to wake up to a thunderstorm and be able to turn over and go back to sleep.

If someone invites you to a Nigerian Engagement Ceremony, you should definitely attend.

At any solemn event, someone's cell phone is sure to ring. Usually this happens multiple times. I can't understand why the first mistake doesn't cause people to check their own phones to make sure it doesn't happen again. Do people not even feel embarrassed about this anymore?

PDM and I still don't like crowds.

A study session with a friend helped me know what I don't know for the board exam. And showed me how inelegantly I answer physics questions out loud. We've got a long way to go to be able to answer smoothly, but it is good to have friends to practice with. It will get better.

We're short-staffed at work for the next week and a half. I hope it's not awful.

Our house isn't going to clean itself. We've given it plenty of chances.

I picked a helluva time to give my tickets away...

Had stuff to do today, so I did not get to see Tech finally get their first ACC win. And against #4 Wake Forest at that. Maybe they play better when I'm not watching?

Ouch.

You know your team sucks when (a)it is the end of January and you have yet to win a conference game, and (2)your team is featured in a "Who Stinks Worse" article in the local fishwrapper. Ouch.

It was small consolation that the author concluded that UGA is in fact worse (but only barely). I still have fun at the games. But it would be nice to beat an ACC team at least once. Still waiting...

On the plus side, I do far better in the NCAA pool when Tech is not in there clouding my judgment. I came in 2nd last year. Damn Memphis!

THWG!

Good times.

D.O.A.

My picks for the Final Four were 100% wrong. My bracket is dead on arrival. I guess Colbert was right... nerds suck at sports.

If you come in dead last, you get your $5 back. It'll be just my luck to come in next-to-last.

UPDATE: Yup, I knew it! There is one person with a score worse than mine, and he has zero possible points he can earn. So I managed to suck just enough to lose miserably, but not quite enough to gain any benefit from it. Oh well. At least "Cranky Pants" will not have to be in the basement three years in a row (although his wife is still doing way better than he is in the pool, thus insuring his continued crankiness).

Leading the pack!

I'm currently in first place in the office pool, with 15 out of 16 possible points. The closest runners up are at 13 points.

Beginner's luck? Perhaps. Or maybe that "Logistic Regression/Markov Chain" model basketball ranking system really works. My prediction? Today's games won't be kind to my bracket, since six of my picks are underdogs, and one of those six is a ridiculous pick.

Here is another guy whose bracket is taking a beating:

Brackets

Et tu, fermicat?

Yes, I'm afraid so.

This year I have fully succumbed to March Madness.

I've entered my crazy ass predictions for the NCAA tourney in our office pool. What the hell... why not? Well, one potential "why not?" is that my sports wagers are usually a total disaster, which is why I don't often make them. Someone once spotted me 50 points on a football game. Sounds like a bet you can't lose, except when your team gets clobbered 51-0. This year I've decided not to let a little thing like bad sports karma get in the way of having some fun. Besides, the guy who finished dead last for the past two years in a row will feel so much better about himself if I end up in the cellar instead of him.

My picks are part wishful thinking (Georgia Tech is in my Elite Eight), part voodoo (I've got Long Beach upsetting Tennessee, along with a couple of 10th seeds beating 7th seeds, and Florida NOT going to the Final Four), and part number cruching (thanks to the "Logistic Regression/Markov Chain" model basketball ranking system developed by some Georgia Tech ISYE profs). I'm hoping the geek stuff gives me an edge!

Got any predictions of your own? Leave 'em in the comments. Don't feel that you have to limit your awesome prognosticative abilities to basketball, either. Feel free to foretell any sort of bizarre occurrence that floats your boat.

74-63

Georgia Tech just beat #11 Duke in basketball. Oh hell yeah!