I can think back as far as junior high to filling out a bracket for the NCAA tournament. At the very least, I would be going on about 14 straight years of making picks. And through those years, I’ve gone through many different selection processes, most recently trying to get into more data analytics (a la Nate Silver at fivethirtyeight).
The truth is, I’ve been terrible at these things. I think the best I finished was top 3 in one of my pools in the mid 2000’s (when I had the easy choice of riding Deron Williams, Dee Brown and my fighting Illini all the way to the finals). Outside of that, I generally finish in the middle of the pack, if not worse. I’ve come to terms with that. Regardless, this is one of my favorite sports seasons of the year, and I’ve set my 2014 bracket of integrity.
The added bonus this year was that I got Eden involved in setting up her own bracket as well. I wanted to give her full freedom in her picks (in hopes that I’ll at least beat her), so all I did was give her the names of the two schools playing against each other and had her pick the winner. I’m surprised she lasted through all 63 matchups. Here’s a glimpse into a portion of her selection process:
And for reference, here is what her finals look like:
And here is mine:
I pray that I don’t lose to her.
Who do you have winning your bracket? Care to share your selection process?
