Gripe of the week: NCAA brackets. "Oh, poor me, my bracket is busted." Shut the fuck up. I don't care how poorly your Midwestern reg picks did in the first round, there are so few dudes who actually follow this stuff all season long, and you're just like everyone else who read a few websites you trust re: mid-major squads, has a gut-feeling about so-and-so, filled out your sheet/Yahoo and dropped a bill into your friend's hand hoping to rake like 10x that. The NCAA Tournament is great, don't get me wrong; I love college hoops way more than I do pro hoops -- squads gunning it all game, more composite adrenaline than any other sporting event, guys three years younger than me who like ten years older. It's an awesome spectacle. But talking to dudes you get the sense that the thing is like a two-week long Kentucky Derby, nobody gives a shit about good plotlines, conference affiliation, whatever, just their lame-ass bracket that, chances are, they "barely missed winning," because, duh, everyone barely misses winning, the teams all have numbers next to them so you know that, well, better at least put Louisville in the Elite 8. If you've bitched about your bracket to me, lemme take a page from Minor Threat and say that I DON'T WANNA HEAR IT.
MORE GRIPES TO COME.
