Whining, Wine-ing & Winning

March Madness starts today, which in our house might as well be considered a national holiday.

I have a bracket. My husband has a bracket. Mine was built on gut instinct, a little strategy, and pure confidence. His… was built on years of knowing way too much about sports. The kind of knowledge where he can watch an NBA game and casually tell you where every player went to college like it’s normal. It’s honestly a little excessive. Also… pretty sexy.

I’m only in one bracket challenge this year (props to my old boss in Manhattan), compared to many in previous years, and while I don’t have anything to prove, I do know what I’m doing for the most part—at least enough to hold my own. He also does squares to add some roulette-style excitement to the mix, so now I’ve got a bracket and a grid of numbers riding on these games, which makes cheering for teams I could give two shits about that much more exciting.

Meanwhile, Kansas State is not in the tournament. Again. Which sucks ass. I’d like to say I handled that maturely, but I did not. It adds an extra layer of spite to my bracket decisions. That, and KU being in it again always throws my picks off even further because I like to choose them to go out in round one.

Today is day one, and I’ve already asked my husband—politely, of course—to come home from work early so we can watch the games. By “politely,” I mean I’ve mentioned it several times and will continue to do so until he caves.

Our daughter has picked up on the excitement and now refers to all of it simply as “ball.” She walks into the room, points at the TV, and says it like it’s the greatest thing she’s ever seen. Bluey has officially taken a backseat, which I didn’t think was possible.

So now we wait. Brackets are set. Pride is on the line. I’m fully prepared to win—and fully capable of doing it—even if my husband would like to think otherwise. And if I don’t… I’ll be hearing about it from a man who could absolutely be an announcer if someone would just give him a microphone.

Let the games begin because it’s the most wonderful time of the year… and GO HOUSTON!