Madness, for sure

If there was ever a season aptly named for our family it would be "March Madness".

I mean, on top of the everyday madness of four children under age 7:
75% of which can take care of their own "potty" needs
50% of which can bathe themselves
0% of which can transport themselves (unless you count bicycles), or plan their own meals.

In every other "season" of the year the six of us work hard to function as one team.
But for two weeks out of the year- it is every man for himself (bracket-ly-speaking).
You make your own selections, choose to seek counsel or not, root for your team, and hope that this is YOUR year.
.
It doesn't matter how savvy you are at your research, how much basketball you've watched to date, or whether your confidence in your selections is any reflection of your ability to even spell the team names.  Really, any man or woman, boy or girl, has a shot at the family crown.
And bonus: for a short period of time, the TV (and sometimes other devices necessary to catch cable games) are ON. All day. 
MADNESS, I tell ya.

Fair warning: just when you think you understand the "rules" of this annual family tradition, they will change.  But for this year, here are a few pieces of advice:

You may select Duke every year, without reason, to advance much farther than realistically possible, and I will respect that.  (At least for ABL, this rule- in effect since approximately 1992- is not subject to influence or change.  At least until Coach K retires.  Then we'll talk).

Relatedly, it will never do you any good to write down North Carolina in this house.  Even if you think it is cool that they have their own color, "Carolina blue".  I tried to tell you they would not advance.  While you will have to make your own judgement on this one- for this year, two of my darlings should have listened.

It may be true that a number 15 seed has never made it to the sweet sixteen.  But choosing a team based on the fact that you really like their Eagle mascot, sometimes pays off.  (All of my children picked them to win the first round, but KJ is one of the only people I know that selected FGCU to be in the sweet sixteen- even after I broke the rules of no-influence and tried to talk him out of that pick).

Selecting early upsets may get you a lot of early points, but it is still risky if you carry them too deep in the tournament.  (Refer to current family standings below)

This year's selection methods:

RRL and ABL- choose not to divulge their secrets for selection.  Carefully researched, of course.

KJ- selections based on mascots

Cbug and Lou- selections based on team colors.

Baby C- could not speak for himself so he got the default of top seeds advance

Under our family scoring system

(one point for first and second rounds, 2 for Sweet Sixteen victory, 3 for Elite Eight, 5 for final four and 10 for the Championship.  PLUS half the difference for an upset victory at any point in the tournament):

After rounds 1 and 2:

RRL= 31.5

ABL= 37.5

KJ= 35

Cbug= 45

Lou= 47

Little Bear= 32 

as you can see, the luck of choosing some crazy upsets sets two of our munchkins out to an early lead (a big one).

But here's the good news for the parentals.  The next rounds count for more points (see above) and...

RRL and ABL: both have 6/8 elite Eight team choices remaining, with both of ABL's final 2 teams still in (Duke and Syracuse).  RRL also picked Duke as National Champion (smart man.  refer to family rules above).

Baby C has 6/8 remaining, but all his hope is riding on Kansas, who "he" picked to win it all.

While KJ is the only person in our family to choose FGCU to go to the sweet sixteen, he did not pick them to advance beyond that and only has one of his Elite Eight teams still in the running (Indiana), a team which he did not pick to advance another round past that point. 

Cbug picked both Michigan and Marquette to elite 8, but has neither advancing beyond that.

Lou only has one team of her elite eight still in.  It, amazingly, is La Salle.  And she also picked them to be in the final four.  Madness.  So, she can get lots of points for upsets, but she only has one team to cash in on.

There's the Team L rundown.

Welcome to the madness!

How do you stand?

ABL