My favorite time of year

Some people like Christmas, others prefer Halloween or perhaps Thanksgiving. Trust me, I am a fan of all those, but nothing warms the cockles of my heart quite like March Madness. It is the single greatest sporting event in the world. Coming on the heels of the Olympics you might consider that statement heresy. I loved the Olympics, but I am not alone in my love of the purest of all tournaments.

Apparently urologists are big fans of the tournament also.

My family takes this most magical of events very seriously. Bragging rights for the entire year are on the line. How do you pick your teams? I used to read every article I could find, visit the websites of Vegas bookmakers to see who they like (no I don't gamble on the tournament, but they don't lose money on these tournaments and therefore can be a source of valuable information). I have found on-line models that run complex algorithms that boldly declare they are right over 95% of the time.

Year after year, I still lose to my children. Some of them compare mascots and decide which mascot could beat up the other mascot. Yes, I lose to them too. However, they also will occasionally try to find an edge to win the all important tournament.


Here is a picture of Rhys speaking with his consultant.


Here's a picture of him and his consultant after he realized the consultant gave him bad information. Word to the wise, if your consultant is willing to be paid in bananas you might want to go elsewhere.


My daughter, Aubrey, took a more direct approach, believing she just needed the right motivation to get her husband, Curtis, to give her the right answers.


This is my youngest son Colby, back when he was my little Shaolin warrior.


Last year he couldn't find a Buddha to seek enlightenment from so he made do with what he had.

How will you be picking your teams this year?

Hi, my name is Dan and I'm addicted to the Olympics (Hi Dan!)

I apologize for not having posted in a while. My spare moments in the evening have been spent enthralled as I've watched mere mortals performing inhuman acts.

Is Michael Phelps a mere mortal? I read an article last week that discussed how swimming world records were no longer relevant because they're getting broken in every race. That's not exactly true, i.e. breaking a record in every race, unless we're talking about final events that Michael Phelps has participated in. In that case it's true. Does breaking a record in every final make it any less significant?

I say no! Human bodies haven't evolved much in the last 100 years. Swimming races in the Olympics have been around for a long time. The molecular construction of water hasn't changed drastically, that I'm aware of. It's not like Michael Phelps is racing downhill or anything like that. He doesn't have the wind at his back, making his swims easier. He is simply dominating the sport in a fashion that hasn't been seen since Mark Spitz. In fact, if he keeps it up, he will earn more gold medals in one Olympics than Mark Spitz. That's a daunting task.



I have loved watching all of the events. I'm not exactly sure if those 68 pound female Chinese gymnasts are actually 16 years old, like they claim, but they are amazing to watch.



I love the Chinese names, like Guo Jingjing. They're just fun to say. I've been tempted to turn Chinese myself, just so I can have a cool name. However, I think that if I do, I'll have to take up diving, and if you look at my picture on this blog, you'll quickly realize that I might be able to specialize in cannonballs, but probably not much else.

Anyway, I'll try to post now and then over the next two weeks if I can pull myself away from the T.V. long enough to do so.