Saturday, March 08, 2008

March Madness - How to Win

USA Today Weekend had these rules for winning your office pool in last weeks edition.

Rule #1: Don't sweat the office hoops fanatic (he never wins)

Rule #2: Pick one school you've never heard of


Rule #3: When picking an ultimate winner, go with the favorites


Rule #4: When all else fails, pick your favorite mascot
They are full of crap. Here are my rules, good for winning 2 of last 3 pools I played, even without following college ball all season.

Rule #1: Rock, Paper, Scissors. When in doubt - SEC beats ACC. ACC beats Big East. Big East beats SEC.

Rule #2: Upsets are for saps. USA Todays' Rule #2 is asinine. There will be upsets, but you won't pick them. Never, ever, pick anything bigger than a 10 seed over a 7. That rule holds all the way to the final four - 4 over 1 is ok, 6 over 2 is not.

Rule #3: The Big 10 will blow it in the end. Not 100% foolproof, but damned effective when in a pool with a bunch of Cheesehead homers. The odds of that 11th seed Big Ten also-ran going to the final four are nil, but enough of these dopes will pick it to put them out of the money.

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