Jackson Hole Underground

Time for tip-off. Hello, heart-stopping basketball. Goodbye, productivity.

I’m always excited for the first weekend of the NCAA tourney. What I’m not excited about: commercials, and the commentary of Billy Packer.

The Bradshaw pool has a record 211 entries. Tim gives us a nice history of the pool, including a reference to a story I wrote about him for the Jackson Hole News in 2000. Hard to believe in this age of live blogging, but Tim was ahead of the curve in putting his pool online.

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Whoever wins tonight’s college basketball championship between Florida and Ohio State, let’s hope the NCAA does a better job of printing the T-shirts than the NIT did for its champion, West Virginia.

If Ohio State upsets Florida for the title, exacting revenge for the football Fiesta Bowl, B.J. Hansen of Vertical Media wins the Bradshaw pool.

If Florida rolls to its second straight title — and the Gators look unstoppable right now — an out-of-towner named Shawn Veldhouse takes the pot.

At the very least, may the game be better than Saturday’s dull semifinals.

Go Buckeyes!

After two weeks of down-to-the-wire basketball, look who’s sitting in first place in the Bradshaw pool: Fishmon. The guy has got game.

If Georgetown beats Florida for the title, Fish takes the pool. If Ohio State bests Florida in a rematch of the Fiesta Bowl, B.J. Hansen, who is tied with Fish for first, is the winner. About a half-dozen people still have a shot.

It looks like the Hoyas and UCLA have been playing the best ball, but given how my predictions have panned out so far, the mere mention of these teams here is likely a kiss of death.

I’m still at a loss to explain yesterday’s unsightly collapse by North Carolina, which cost me a dinner to a Big East fan. Way to compose your team down the stretch, Roy. Fortunately, I’m not exactly bummed to pay up.

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Only one upset during Day 1 of the tourney, and it’s my team.

Certainly not unexpected. (Although one participant in the Bradshaw pool picked Duke to go all the way. He must really have been out of the loop.)

These Blue Devils lacked leadership all season, with no seniors and only one junior among the starting five. Stewart Mandel of SI.com has a thorough breakdown of the team’s woes, which all the Duke haters no doubt are savoring.

Coach K put it best after the game: “If you’re in this tournament long enough, you’re going to go down,” he told The New York Times. And to CBS, “One of the things about success is that sometimes you lose. Sometimes in order to appreciate winning, you have to get your butt kicked.”

Here’s hoping some of the other high seeds get their butts kicked today.

Only a few minutes till the entry deadline of the Bradshaw pool, and I’m ready for tip-off.

As the most exciting sporting event of the spring gets underway, a few questions and observations:

• What is “Bechel Bronn?”

I thought it was some Web site Bradshaw bought to keep his Vertical Media servers from being inundated every March, but it turns out Bechelbronn is the name of the farm his grandfather used to own. A photo of the place is on the banner at the top of Tim’s page.

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