Open "at work but not working" Tourney Thread
There is very little I can think of other than the NCAA basketball tournament. It has become my "default" thought process, I wake up thinking about it, it is my first thought and my last thought for the day. I can't shake it, I am seeing brackets form in front of me on the floor when I am walking. For those of you in the same boat, who are staring uselessly at projects on your desk, in your office, etc. that are certainly not going to get done in the next 72 hours, any discussion of any signficance regarding the NCAA tourney (or any other spring topics, the Masters, or Bell Oberon for crying out loud), I am sure there are many on this blog who would be happy to chat.
Even the most benign, random thoughts are acceptable, i.e. Michigan v. UCLA 1993, how sweet was that? Jimmy with the steal and shaking his head as time expired, fantastic.
This seems a wee bit premature.
wish it was.
That being said, it could take the place of "President Obama's bracket" and similar clutter on the Board, so maybe bear with me here.
March 14th, 2012 at 10:16 AM ^
I don't know about you, but I'm gonna be reading analysis all day for Minnesota's NIT game tonight! No way can I work.
March 14th, 2012 at 10:19 AM ^
I've got to train the new guy today. Besides, the tournament does not start until tomorrow.
March 14th, 2012 at 11:19 AM ^
MGoBlog?
Sitting here reading MGoBlog at work. Eating a bagel and drinking a coffee from Tim Hortons. Drew & Mike on the radio. Wishing it was Saturday actually. My bro and a bunch of buddies are heading down to Indy for Supercross. We used to go every year when it was at the Silverdome but that's not happening anymore.
Go Blue!
v. Dunkin Donut's coffee.
Vegas has it as a pick em. Who ya got?
Dunkin Donuts. I love that coffee
March 14th, 2012 at 11:59 AM ^
Yea man. French press with a grinder for me as well. There is a nice little beanery a few miles north of GR that has about every type of bean you could want. Sooooo much better than any other shit house coffee schwill.
#elitist
March 14th, 2012 at 10:29 AM ^
I haven't been fair to Dunkin to be honest. I never go there although there are two of them within a square mile from the office. Maybe tomorrow I'll swing by and try it.
I have a Mini Keurig at my desk that works out good.
Spring Break all week. :|
When does Michigan's Spring Break start
Ours was 2 weeks ago.
beat me to it
M spring break is in February.
is a strange time for spring break.
March 14th, 2012 at 10:27 AM ^
got a point, and thanks for not just thread killing like those above when clearly they are doing the same thing that we are.
In any case, there really is not that much incentive at all to pick an upset in your standard pool unless you see the team that you are picking for the upset going deep into the tournament. They are really an all risk-very small reward proposition.
One of my proffesors started a pool using that system for his classes. It is a nice twist I like the idea of the extra points for upsets. It gives you mour insentive to not go all chalk.
March 14th, 2012 at 10:30 AM ^
Some sites actually allow you to implement rules like that. Yahoo includes an upset bonus, and a seed differential bonus, and other weird rules.
I thought about using some of them this year for my family bracket challenge and the idea was abruptly shot down. Apparently my family doesn't like change.
I was just going to go to kenpom.com to help me with my picks, until I saw that he put a paywall up for this season. Which got me thinking: if I pay for it and win my tournament pool, can I write off the cost of the site?
Of course if I happen to win any pools, I'm not reporting the income, so the answer is no, I'm not going to write off a kenpom subscription.
This may not be on topic about the tourney but it fits with at work and not working. My wife and I had our first ultrasound for our first child the other day and I put together a little video of her singing along to The Victors.
yet another reason to have a baby
On the other hand, that kind of WIN is just not enough to get me through 3-hour sleep nights. Teachers should show videos of parents taking care of babies at night as a way to teach abstenence.
I have a few more months of 8 hour nights and one last March Madness to enjoy without having to leave the game to change a diaper and refill the sippy cup.
March 14th, 2012 at 11:18 AM ^
AND awesome, all at the same time.
I've had 2 dreams about the tourney since the brackets were announced. In the first dream, my wife woke me up and I was telling her about how seeding works (I was still half dreaming). In the second dream, I thought it was Wednesday when it was actually Thursday and missed the deadline for filling out my bracket. So I started panicking because I wouldn't have anything but Mich to root for.
Flying out tomorrow morning. Got my B1G championship shirt ready to break out for my Spartan friend I'll be meeting.
Not sure if my strategy this year is going to be take all of jamiemac's picks or take the opposite of all of jamiemac's picks....!!
March 14th, 2012 at 10:16 AM ^
March 14th, 2012 at 10:32 AM ^
March 14th, 2012 at 10:38 AM ^
In my office they don't even pretend to be working. They will have TVs set up in the conference rooms with the NCSU game on Friday as I work with a lot of NCSU grads and they in the tournament for the first time since 2006. Nothing will happen around here until after that game is over. I won't watch it for a variety of reasons, the main one being I don't fraternize with the minions and talking basketball around here is like talking to a New Yorker about any other big city (there's nothing they haven't already seen in NYC that isn't superior)[triple negative ftw].
March 14th, 2012 at 10:51 AM ^
They have four projector overheads screens with each game on them, food set up, and they sell t-shirts. The t-shirts are for charity, but still, student workers like me and professors don't get anything done in the first round.
March 14th, 2012 at 10:48 AM ^
I got into work and spent the first 3 hours researching for my bracket picks. Today shouldn't be so bad because I want to get a lot done so I don't have as much work the next two days.
March 14th, 2012 at 10:59 AM ^
none of you are EMTs. LOL.
March 14th, 2012 at 11:22 AM ^
Are you sure?
March 14th, 2012 at 11:24 AM ^
I should take the Wednesday off as well as the Thursday and Friday off for the Tournament. It's not like much more gets done at work, and so much needs to get set up by noon tomorrow...pool, food, etc. I know how the OP feels.
March 14th, 2012 at 11:45 AM ^
March 14th, 2012 at 11:56 AM ^
Tomorrow?
Shit man put your nose down today so you can do this shit tomorrow.
Boom. VP'd.
March 14th, 2012 at 10:21 PM ^
If I was dictator of the universe, every parent, new parent and, most importantly, those contemplating becoming new parents, would be required to listen very carefully to "The Thin Ice" a good dozen or so times at least, and then read stories like that of Tyler Clementi.
That's a thought that depleted my productivity today. 6 billion and counting.