I’m a stickler for tradition, especially traditions that have served me well in the past. When it comes to the NCAA basketball tournament, my habit is gotten me all four Final Four teams two of the last three years and the national champion four straight.
So, with five minutes before the opening game Thursday, I took a quick look, made spot judgments and filled out my brackets. I was done with two minutes to spare. My rules are simple: pick the best team I’ve seen all year to win it, the most athletic team (if possible) to come in second, be logical when it comes to A&M’s chances and pick against Texas in the first round.

I'd rather my players be in the NBA than win in your bracket.
And ignore Dick Vitale's favorite conference, which means shun the Big East.

Net result: Kansas to win, Kentucky to lose in the final, A&M to the Final Four and Texas fan worried about football recruiting by the start of the weekend.

I did take a few risks, of course: I liked New Mexico State and Cornell as my 12-5 upsets, thought Georgetown was playing well enough to make it to the Sweet 16, picked Vanderbilt to be a surprise entrant in the Sweet 16 and thought UTEP was still good enough to beat Butler in the first round.
I feel good about things.

(By the way, I think A&M is a totally logical pick for the Final Four. If they beat Purdue tomorrow, they get Duke--probably--in Houston. They have a stronger defense than anyone Duke’s faced and there will be 50,000 screaming Aggies at Reliant Stadium. I will be one of them, and I WANT DUKE. Ok, moving on.)
2 p.m. Thursday: BYU has just finished off Florida in double overtime. Ok, good; got that one. I figured the 30-year-old white guys had a chance against a young and only partially talented Gator team. But Villanova had trouble with Robert Morris? Sure am glad I picked Baylor to win that one. Puke.
3:35 p.m. Thursday: Old Dominion has defeated Notre Dame. Oops, didn’t have that one, but I can’t stand Notre Dame anyway. It’s time to go get the missus, so I’m listening to the end of the Vandy--Murray State game on the radio. Jaime’ has already warned me that Vandy has assumed the role of the suck, but they’ve got the lead with 6 seconds left. Murray State takes care of the with a jumper at the buzzer.
I throw my hands up in dismay, hearing the brakes squealing and the crash of my West bracket. Or maybe it was the guy in front of me who just drove off the road. Guess he had Vandy too. Or maybe he had just heard that Washington had beaten Marquette at the buzzer. I had Marquette in that one, too.
8 p.m. Thursday: By this point, things are beginning to look a little odd. St. Mary’s has beaten Richmond--no biggie, even though I had Richmond--and Butler has just smoked UTEP like a Lucky Strike. I should have remembered one of my old rules: “If you lose to the University of Houston, you suck harder than Elton John during pride week.”
Kansas is having trouble with Lehigh, or alma mater #1 (or, as some people I know call it, alma “don’t” mater). One of the guys I know from Lehigh posts “THEY’RE SHUTTING DOWN THE BRIDGES IN LAWRENCE, KS!” Of course, Lawrence has no bridges, but what the hell. I refer to Lehigh as “we,” feel dirty and decide not to again. There can be only one.
But KU’s problems pale to Georgetown‘s, another one of my surprise Sweet 16 teams. They’re getting buried by Ohio University.
WHAT THE HELL'S GOING ON HERE?
11 p.m. Thursday: Wake Forest beats Texas at the buzzer. The despised scum from Austin have gone from #1 to first round out in less than three months. I jump up and down and scream like a 7-year-old girl at a Jonas Brothers concert. My wife, already asleep, is not quite as enthralled. But tradition has held.
11 a.m. Friday: A look at the brackets indicates they’re still standing, though certain parts of them look like they’ve been hit by a JDAMS. A few upset specials, like Cornell over Temple and Siena over Purdue, and we’re back in business.
3 p.m. Friday: I wish the Air Force would stop using my brackets for target practice. Cornell does pull the upset, but Siena and Minnesota are gone. What the hell was I thinking supporting two Yankee teams? Foolishness. Looking at my brackets is now as desirable listening to “The Very Best of Air Supply”.
oh...MY...GOD!At least Missouri beat Clemson. Thanks, Big 12!
6 p.m. Friday: A&M has opened up a can of country whoopass on Utah State, much to my relief. I was worried that the refs in that game (who have a history of screwing the Aggies) would…well, screw the Aggies. Well, the Aggies pounded on the Aggies so soundly that the Aggies (our Aggies, not theirs) had nothing to worry about.
9 p.m. Friday: I took Florida State to beat Gonzaga. And Oklahoma State over Georgia Tech--thanks for nothing, Big 12! Net result: staring blankly at the screen with a glazed-over look like a 40-year-old straight male at that same Jonas Brothers concert. It gets worse when New Mexico State loses to Michigan State on a lane violation. Who screws NMSU (the Aggies)? The same refs I was worried about earlier.
Oh, the humanity..2:30 p.m. Saturday: I’m awoken from a nap by Jaime’, mocking Villanova’s loss…to St. Mary’s. Didn’t Dick Vitale say the Big East was the best conference in the nation, bar none? WHADDYA SAY NOW, DICKIE V? Now an Elite 8 team, an A&M victim, is gone.

8 p.m. Saturday: Baylor has won. Puke. Tennessee has beaten Ohio and Butler beat Murray State, neither of which matter to me because I HAD NONE OF THEM. Washington has beaten New Mexico, scrubbing another Sweet 16 team with one I had losing in the first round. And the Fighting Honkies of Northern Iowa have eliminated my champion, Kansas.

But hey, my Aggies are still alive. AND I WANT DUKE.