Bracketology & Mascotology

March Madness is here and that means basketball fans around the country are filling out their NCAA Tournament brackets. There is a science to it. ESPN calls it Bracketology. It's a not-so-simple process of trying to predict the winners among the 64 college basketball teams in the season-ending finale.

At the TNC offices, we have a friendly little competition going among the staff. No wagering - just doing it for pure entertainment and possibly a reason to gloat if you're the winner. I filled mine out tonight. My final four include: North Carolina, Kansas, Memphis, & UCLA. I'm picking UCLA & UNC in the championship game with UCLA taking it all. Who really knows? It'll be fun finding out.

I was bored doing the brackets the normal way so I created two other ways to fill out my brackets. I filled another one out according to school mascot. I'll call it Mascotology. I looked at each school mascot and determined who the winner should be based on the strength of the mascot. For example, in a first round upset, I'm picking the Boise State Broncos over the Louisville Cardinals since everyone knows a bronco is bigger and stronger than a cardinal. I'm also picking the Austin Peay Governors to defeat the Texas Longhorns. Governors have much more power than longhorns.

My final four in Mascotology are: George Mason Patriots, Kent State Golden Flashes (lightning bolts are powerful!), Miami Hurricanes, and Duke Blue Devils. The champs in this scenario are the Duke Blue Devils. Interestingly, the Duke Blue Devils had to play the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils in the fourth round. Duke won that game since they were a higher ranking devil.

Since Ephesians 2:2 says that the devil is "the ruler of the kingdom of the air" you have to assume that the devils will dominate the tournament in Mascotology. Unfortunately, the Siena Saints will be defeated in the first round by the Vanderbilt Commodores. A high-ranking naval officer can whup a saint.

In Mascotology, people who are armed always beat animals. For example, the Xavier Musketeers will beat the Baylor Bears in the second round. The Tennessee Volunteers will defeat the South Alabama Jaguars in the second round also. Everybody knows that a Tennessee hillbilly is going to have a gun with him to shoot any jaguars that might show up.

My third bracket is an Alpha Bracket. I chose the winner for each game based on which one was first in the alphabet. The final four in this bracket are: Arkansas, Arizona, Austin Peay, and Cal. State Fullerton. Arizona will win a squeaker in the championship game over Arkansas.

I predict that my Mascots and Alpha picks will be about as accurate as my "normal" picks. It will be fun to see how the brackets turn out.