I'm Focused, Man.

Last year this time, I was in South Africa on vacation. Sounds awesome, right?  Yeah, it was, except for the fact that I completely missed Champs Week.  Yep, I was bugging when I planned that trip with my friends.  Once I realized the mistake I made, it was too late.  Trip was paid for, dates were locked, and there was nothing I could do about it.  What a setup. The only positive thing was that I'd return in time for the NCAA Tournament with a couple of days to get my picks in. That put me at ease until I got realistic with myself and admitted that I had no shot at the big prize.   I immediately returned to panic mode because I already knew that I'd be taking a quick dive straight to the bottom of all five of my pools.

See, I don't really start following college basketball until March.  Don't worry.  There's a method to my madness.  With the NFL going until early February and the NBA in full swing, I feel like something has to take a back seat.  For me, it's college bball.  And, based on past experiences, I know I can't handle a full season of college basketball.  I get too emotionally attached.  It's bad.  For these reasons, I decided to invest a little later in the game and just go hard as hell once March hits.  I start scouting teams, players, and coaches.  I give my money, time, and emotions, all in the name of filling out my brackets.

So, this two-week trip to SA completely ruined my whole game plan.  Never again.  I totally learned my lesson.  Returning from a trip of a lifetime to only have regrets that I missed a marathon game between Syracuse and UConn was not what's up and will NEVER happen again.

New Rule: From now on, I pledge to stick to the script.  March is officially reserved for Madness. March is reserved for devoting hours upon hours of watching nothing but college basketball.  March is reserved for cramming a season's worth of stats, analysis and info into 2 weeks.  March is reserved for skimming blogs and hoarding newspapers/magazines, searching for the inside scoop.  March is now and I'm ready!


photo credit:  Drew Litton