$5 that could have been used to help someone...

Will instead be thrown away on Ye Olde College Peach Basket Bracket. I always lose at these things and for the last few years I have been trying without success to not fill one out. I could save the money and still enjoy the games just as much. After all, I am not a gambler. But for some reason, I still want to fill one out.

I also considered filling out a bracket and just not handing it in. Then I could still see how poorly I did and relish the fact that I didn't throw away my money to Celia in accounting who doesn't know a screen roll from a screen door. But then of course my fear was that I would actually do well with the bracket (the lack of pressure of money on the line clearing my mind to allow me to not fall prey to everybody telling me mid-major X is a sleeper) and then not get the money I so richly deserve.

But this year, I was almost sure I could avoid filling out a bracket. There seem to be far too many good teams to pick the one that will win six in a row. But then when someone put a bracket in front of my nose and a $5 buyin, I crumbled like a junkie in a dirty alley. Now, the bracket is in my possession. But I've been unable to bring myself to fill it out because I can't even decide whether to take Duke or VCU in the opening round. Like a junior high boy who can't ring his crush's doorbell, I stand there agog as I try to decide whether to jump on board with a sexy upset pick against a squad that is basically an evil corporation in gym shorts. And I don't have a much better idea on picking any of the other 62 games.

I shouldn't, but on Thursday morning I'll be racing (trying to beat the new Daylight Savings Time world I exist in where I'm now in Pacific Time!) to fill out the bracket and hand it in. Texas will probably go farther than it should because I've been pulled into Durant's tractor beam. I'll think back fondly at the sight of Mike Conley Sr. bounding down the triple jump and landing with a thud in the sand while taking Ohio State to go farther than they should on the back of "Great Oden's Beard!".

And then there's Kansas and North Carolina. And we haven't even mentioned UCLA or Florida or Texas A&M or Wisconsin. Or Memphis or Louisville, or hell, even Creighton. Despite what Adidas says, Impossible is Something. And that is what halts me from my bracket. I know I can't do it and it's meaningless and I'll lose my money.

And it is at this point that good writers have some pithy comment that explains why despite all presented evidence, they are still going to do what they know they shouldn't do. Something like: "But I will fill in those teams, all the way to the Final Four. You know why? Because maybe this is the year for my One Shining Moment." It's something like that, but much better and more interesting. But I don't have anything succinct to explain why I have to do it. I just have to.

At least until everybody jumps on board with my NBA playoffs bracket challenge. See you in May!