For those of you wondering about my braggadocios bracket-filling claims from last week, and how my own 5 brackets were doing in regards to these "rules," well, let me first state that I didn't hold to the letter of the rules, because, frankly, they're mostly bullshit. My whole posit is that people who don't participate in $5 office pools because they "don't have the time" or "I don't know anything about college basketball" are missing the point. At least be real about it and admit "I didn't want to spend the $5," instead of your bullshit excuses... at any rate here is the rundown on my 5 brackets after the First weekend:
(note % is the percentile of the 5 million or however many brackets are in the ESPN contest)

Bracket #1: 470 pts, 97.4% -- I've got 6 of my Elite 8 and 3 of my Final 4 still alive, with Duke as champs
Bracket #2: 450 pts, 91.3% -- 5 of Elite 8, 3 of Final 4 still alive, with Texas as champs; I'd actually feel better about this bracket, except I screwed up and put North Carolina in my final four is this one as well as #1, which was an obvious mistake, and what I get for filling these out too quickly -- really shoulda put UConn in from that region!
Bracket#3: 350 pts, 11.9%: -- This one was Really emplematic of the "just click on teams" mentality, and it shows. Ugh. A whopping 3 of Elite 8 and 2 of Final 4 left, but I do have UConn as champs... like that'll help...
Bracket #4: 390 pts, 37.2% -- this is my "homer" bracket with UW and Gonzaga in the final 4, but I don't honestly believe that either will make it, so it feels like a throwaway. On the bright side, all 4 of my Final 4 picks are still alive, and I've got Duke as champs... but I'm also already out half my Elite 8
Bracket #5: 370 pts, 21.8% -- with 6 of my Elite 8 and 3 of my Final 4 still alive, as UConn as champs, I feel like this bracket could "rally" and get above the 50th percentile, which is my actual goal in all this.

So, I guess the overall verdict here is "below average," which isn't a surprise at all, quite frankly...

According to our friends at the US Naval Observatory we can see that the Vernal Equinox took place today at 18:26 UT, which translates to 10:26 am local time... and I would Officially like to welcome the official start of Spring. Hello, Spring, please make yourself at home...