Love and Basketball (sans the Love)
As I write this, Florida and Ohio State are about to throw down for an epic rumble which will either crush historical precedence in it's wake devastating our understanding of the very fabric of our universe, or it shall tear the heavens asunder allowing Greg Oden passage into the hallowed halls of Valhalla where he shall spend each day playing a grueling 2-on-2 game where the team of Odin and Oden battle the combined powers of Thor and Bill Russell and every night shall be spent drinking the strongest of mead and playing wingman for Wilt Chamberlain.
Needless to say, I know nothing about college basketball. Nada. Zip. Zero. Zilch. (Duke's supposed to win, right?) In years past I've asked my friends for advice in filling out my bracket and offered up my $5 sacrifice. And of course, every year my mildly invested hopes have been dashed on the somewhat tart crags that gird the isle of petty-ante gambling triumph.
This year, I tried something different. I embraced my complete ignorance of the tournament and used the tools made available to me by my lifestyle. With 20-sided die in hand, I randomly generated my bracket weighing each match-up biased on difference in seeding. Then, I entered only one pool with no monetary rewards. I now find myself at the top of that pool with the rest of the pack trailing far beyond my (though be it near-sighted) vision; and depending on the outcome of the championship, I will be either 1st or 3rd amongst all my (oh so numerous) Facebook friends.
Thus, fate (along with a band of young gentlemen with a statistically improbable height distribution) has taught me a valuable lesson. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with believing in yourself and overcoming personal impairments... But when I look at the final four and see only first and second seeded teams there doesn't seem to be much overcoming occurring....
So maybe there is no lesson... other than that the structures our society has in place to reward the powerful do nothing except reify they're power (let all the underdogs among us despair) and that the gods of luck will only favor me when cash isn't involved.
Needless to say, I know nothing about college basketball. Nada. Zip. Zero. Zilch. (Duke's supposed to win, right?) In years past I've asked my friends for advice in filling out my bracket and offered up my $5 sacrifice. And of course, every year my mildly invested hopes have been dashed on the somewhat tart crags that gird the isle of petty-ante gambling triumph.
This year, I tried something different. I embraced my complete ignorance of the tournament and used the tools made available to me by my lifestyle. With 20-sided die in hand, I randomly generated my bracket weighing each match-up biased on difference in seeding. Then, I entered only one pool with no monetary rewards. I now find myself at the top of that pool with the rest of the pack trailing far beyond my (though be it near-sighted) vision; and depending on the outcome of the championship, I will be either 1st or 3rd amongst all my (oh so numerous) Facebook friends.
Thus, fate (along with a band of young gentlemen with a statistically improbable height distribution) has taught me a valuable lesson. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with believing in yourself and overcoming personal impairments... But when I look at the final four and see only first and second seeded teams there doesn't seem to be much overcoming occurring....
So maybe there is no lesson... other than that the structures our society has in place to reward the powerful do nothing except reify they're power (let all the underdogs among us despair) and that the gods of luck will only favor me when cash isn't involved.
