It's that time of the year!

I must say, this is my favorite time of the year! The sun is going down later, the days are getting warmer, and I just filled out five brackets for four different pools. I'm pretty stoked. It's NCAA March Madness - probably the most fun any sports fan can have in two weeks time. It's when we stop paying attention at work in attempt to listen to games on the radio or hold up bandwith to stream them online. I'm not allowed to do the latter in the office anymore. *Tear*

The #1 seeds in the tournament have well earned their places on the charts, but there are some teams to keep your eye on in the first round. There might be a few dark horses in the running. I had to split a couple first round games between brackets because I was pretty torn on some matchups. Cal and Louisville being the most questionable game of the tournament. Having attended school at Cal, and learned to love college basketball in Louisville, this was an emotional toss up for me. Louisville has mass potential if they go balls out, but Cal is definitely favored in this game if you're not a Cards fan.

Another game that could turn out a huge upset is Purdue and Siena. Purdue is without their top dog, Robbie Humell. Although Purdue proven to be a winning team throughout the season, they could easily be toppled by the team now being nicknamed "The Kings of Upsets," Siena. This will definitely be a game to watch that could possibly flip many peoples' brackets upside down.

I'm hoping to see Kansas, Kansas State, Villanova, and Kentucky in my Final Four (my favorite Final Four of the five brackets), with Kentucky taking it all against Kansas in the finals. Yeah, I know it's the most likely game when you look at the numbers. But I have money on this stuff.

I could go on and on, but we'll all have to just tune in this Thursday and hope we don't get too reamed for our lack of productivity over the next two weeks. Good luck!

My winding wheel.

My wonderful world of sports hasn't really done anything exciting for me lately. Yes, I know that football is drawing near a close. Yes, I know the Jets are playing today. I will watch the game. I will cross my fingers for bad calls against the Colts in Indianapolis. I will hope that our rookie quarterback can throw long and actually connect. I will not hold my breath.

Let's have a bit of a reality check as you cock your eyebrow at me right now. I just don't like to set myself up for disappointment. If we get an unexpected win (as we did with the Chargers), I will be pleasantly surprised. Awesome.

I'm loosely paying attention to everyone in then MLB aside from the Dodgers making deals. Signing Juan Padilla gives us an idea of how you start building a pitching staff. Aside from that, I'm beginning to wonder what our opening day lineup is going to look like. I look forward to trips to Arizona for spring training.

I also look forward to March Madness. While I also pay little attention to college basketball until the end of February, I get really into it about then. And when it's over, it's basically baseball season, and my life is pretty good for the next six months.

What I'm trying to say is that I know this has been stale since I pledged to be more exciting in the new year, but it's not my fault sports hasn't given me anything juicy enough to rag about. I'm feeling antsy, and I apologize if it is rubbing off on you.

Tom Brady's life is better than yours.

Yeah, I read that somewhere else. Good stuff.

There's a bubble protruding from my ceiling. I can't wait to move [this weekend], and I've been slacking on the updates.

One day until the March Madness NCAA men's basketball tournament begins. I hope you have your brackets ready. I have four different pools going.

You can join one on Facebook!

http://apps.facebook.com/thebracketchallenge/?page=pool&id=88545&wclc=ba-10

That should link you to it.

Have fun, and good luck teams!

It's almost here!

(image via betavega.com)

Get your brackets out, because March Madness is on the way. Selection Sunday is March 15th, with our first and second rounds starting up on the 19th. This is when things get out of hand. Bandwith runs low because we're all trying to stream three games on our work computers. Productivity drops because who the hell is working when a 12 seed just upset one of your final four? Some people even think it's okay to have no faith in their favorite teams just to win their bracket pool. Traitors? I'm not going to name names...Brad.

That's right folks. March Madness is almost upon us.

Pittsburgh remains a favorite amongst most, followed by Connecticut and UNC. Duke and Oklahoma look like they're going to be battling for that number four spot. The rest gets kind of messy after Louisville dropped quite a few slots.

I don't know who is going to take all, but I have a pretty good idea of what my brackets are shaping up to look like this year. So get your pencils out, and bring a box of tissue. This is one of the few times I get to see grown men cry.

And I love it.

800...and counting?

(image via CNN)

Jim Calhoun is somewhere poppin' bottles in celebration of his 800th with tonight as Connecticut dominated Marquette Wednesday night.

UConn is well on their way to the final four, and possibly a championship, in the coming weeks. Ranked in the top two spots in multiple polls, the Huskies are coming fierce.

More celebrations for Jimmy in the near future? It's looking good. Congrats!