Yes, it’s that time of year when I truly do what so many of you think I do every day — offer my assessment about something that I know nothing about. In this case, the NCAA basketball tournament. Here’s last year’s effort. Above is an actual, undoctored photograph of the one I completed earlier today. (To keep me honest, you might want to print this one out, if you’re really that suspicious.)
I assure you that, once again, I’ve gotten through an entire season without watching, or checking the paper for the results of, a single game. No, wait — after hearing how excited my in-laws in Memphis were about a game between U. of Memphis and Tennessee, I did check the next morning to see how it came out. But I don’t remember which one won. I’m thinking it was UT, but then how did Memphis get seeded so high if that’s so? Whatever.
And no, I’m not going to go look up the answer, which would spoil the purity of my system for making predictions. I generally give the advantage to three kinds of teams:
- Schools that I or someone in my family have been associated with at some time or other (Like Fred Thompson, I’m a Memphis State grad, from the days when it was called Memphis State.)
- Catholic schools, or schools with Catholic-sounding names (I don’t know about St. Mary’s, but any school named for the Mother of God has to be good for at least one round, don’t you think?)
- Schools that were roundball powerhouses back when I was in college, as near as I can remember.
Oh, and I have one other rule — all things being roughly equal, bet on Duke. I did that for several rounds this year, getting them into the Final Four, but didn’t take them all the way.
Anyway, you’ll see that this year, I gave the most emphasis to Rule 1. Only time will tell if I was right.
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Just now I perused John McCain’s bracket, which you can do here (yeah, they make you give info so they can bombard you with appeals for money, but you can just delete them the way I do).
He did a pretty good job, although he foolishly picked Kent State and Georgia in the first round. He made a really basic mistake by picking Georgia over a school with a Catholic-sounding name. He should have checked with me on that. (And yes, I’m using irony here again.)
But he gets most of them right.
Did y’all SEE that? Belmont came within a hairsbreadth of beating Duke. Now THAT would have spoiled the whole tournament for me. I probably would have stopped watching, except for Memphis…
McCain’s bracket requires one to sign up to be a “Team Member”. I am not about to give a politician my email address to spam. Karen Floyd, candidate for Superintendent of Education candidate, spammed me without my permission. The SC GOP also spammed me by subscribing me to a newletter without permission.
Here’s a suggestion, Ralph:
Delete the spam and throw the newsletter away. That’s what I do with mail I don’t want.
It’s a free country, or at least it’s supposed to be.
All I have to do is read Brad’s Blog to find out how clueless Brad Warthen is.
Nah, I don’t delete spam or throw the newsletters away. I report it to federal authorities. In the past, I have helped the Securities and Exchange Commission suspend multiple firms from trading that were in a “pump and dump” scheme, helped the Federal Trade Commission prosecute a pornography ring, and helped the Justice Department shut down a prolific spammer.
Securities and Exchange Commission:
SEC Suspends Trading Of 35 Companies Touted In Spam Email Campaigns
http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2007/2007-34.htm
Federal Trade Commission:
FTC File No. 042-3168
Civil Action No.: CV-S-05-0002-PMP-LRL
http://www.ftc.gov/os/caselist/0423168/0423168.shtm
Department of Justice:
United States of America vs. Robert Soloway
Indicted for 10 counts of mail fraud, 5 counts of wire fraud, 2 counts of fraud in connection with electronic email, 6 counts of aggravated identity theft, money laundering.
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/waw/victim_witness/soloway/Superseding%20Indictment.pdf
On March 14, 2008, it plead guilty to mail fraud, spam, and failure to file tax returns. It could be sentenced up to 20 years.
Before Lee Muller gets on my case and you, weldon VII, that this is a free country. Yes, it is; I agree with the both of you that this is a free country. However, no one has a right to spam. Spam is different than junk mail. In junk mail, the sender bears the costs; however, in spam, the recipient bears the costs, along with the Internet Service Providers. People who spam are criminals. With the stock “pump and dump” schemes, the spammers entice people to buy stock that is rising so they can sell the stock high that they bought low. I do not have a problem with people buying low and selling high; I do have a problem with criminals manipulating the market, duping dumb people in their scheme, to get rich. The Nigerian 419 scam entices dumb people to send strangers money and the criminal milk the victim out of their life’s saving, and if they travel over to Africa, possibly lose their life.
So Lee and weldon, I am doing y’all a favor whether you like it or not.
You’re right that we need to do something about spam.
And Bill C. — you haven’t really plumbed the depths of my ignorance if you haven’t seen me try to prognosticate on sports…
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