My first March Madness bracket contest….

My readers know me to be more of a college football and track & field fan than anything else, but I do enjoy basketball, too. This year, my old college friend and stellar attorney, Bruce Lorman, invited me to join his NCAA bracket contest. It sounded like a lot of fun, so I signed up.

Karen was home for a break and helped me fill out my bracket. Okay, so we made some emotional choices (we really didn’t think that USC would make the final four, but hey, you gotta love the Trojans chez Freberg!) When we didn’t have an emotional choice, we usually went with the safe bet.

So far, out of 60 people playing, I’m tied for 31st place. Not too bad for a first try. I could have done better–I almost picked Davidson in honor of my APS co-presenter, Greta Munger–but I really thought Gonzaga was going to win that one. I thought it was cool that the Davidson administration paid for nearly 20% of their student body to bus to the last game and stay in a hotel for a couple of nights. Now that’s a great university!

So far, I’m doing best in the South Region–only missed 2 there–but my Midwest picks are tragic.

I think that if I do this again, I’ll submit 2 brackets–one that is picked using cold, hard logic–and another that is just pure fun. It would be interesting to see which would actually do better! Maybe someone like Cal Tech should put me under fMRI when I make my bracket decisions to see what’s going on in there….

In the meantime, I’ll be rooting for my Bruins (I have multiple personality disorder–a Bruin alumna who really likes the Trojans, too).