Two March Madness Tidbits

The First:

A bona fide email exchange I had this week with RA (Shared without permission - hope it's okay!), following my comment on her post about March Madness:

Me: [. . .] I do not know what possessed me to pick Wichita to go to the Final Four. Yes I do, it was a comment I heard on NPR. But I was only half-listening so it's entirely possible the guy was kidding about them. [. . .]

RA:  Oh, dear, if we heard the same thing on NPR, it was that Wichita State's mascot is a stalk of wheat... :(

Me: Now that you mention it, it was definitely that. Dumbdumbdumb. Then again, I have Ohio State as my champ in my work bracket, and their mascot is a buckeye. 

 I think this is the first time ever that NPR has gotten me into trouble.

The Second:

At our weekly operations meeting at work on Tuesday a few of us were discussing our in-office bracket contest, of which I was at that time tied for first place. I explained to my colleagues that I mostly go by the numbers and choose a few upsets based on whether or not I know people who attended those schools. I couldn't even remember anything about my work bracket besides the fact that I had selected Ohio State as the ultimate victor. Really, I just like to do well in March Madness because I enjoy being right. There's not much more to it.

Then a new fellow chimed in asking if March Madness was something our office did every year. We said that last year was really the first year that we started. Then he asked something to the effect of, "So what are you guessing?" And then a colleague explained to him what March Madness was, and he had never heard of it before. I was dumbfounded. And then the meeting started and I totally forgot to talk to my other co-workers about how that one new guy didn't know what March Madness was. I'll have to put that at the top of my list for the next time I'm in the office.

(Non-Americans, it is okay if you don't know what March Madness is. It's the American college basketball single-elimination tournament that starts with 64 teams and eventually ends in one. It happens in March. It is fun to participate because any nimrod can fill out a bracket.)