My Fear of the Third Month in the Year

Know what my biggest fear is?

March.

Yup I'm talking about the month. And I know what you're thinking, Why March? Spring begins in March! The days get longer in March! (True but in New England every month has it's own crappy weather extreme so that argument is invalid). Or maybe you're thinking, but St. Patrick's Day is in March! You go to school in Boston and you're 1/8 Irish, you must love the day devoted to drinking! (Well this year the Pope magically changed St. Patrick's day to March 15th and the most I'll be drinking with classes going on and me being a mere 20 and three months is a ginger-ale. At least it's green!) And finally, the last question that may spring into your minds is, "you love sports Meredith and with the changing of the months from February to March brings us March Madness!"

The last point is what leads me to my fear of March. So I guess it's not really March that scares me, it's March Madness. I, Meredith Constant, do not understand March Madness. Every year I tell myself that this is the year I will pay attention and learn the breakdown of one of the most popular sporting events of they year, and every year I chicken out.

But maybe it isn't entirely my fault. I don't go to a college where attending the weekend sporting match is the "hip" thing to do, unless you just happen to be smoking a cigarette and listening to Indie music while a soccer game happens to be going on in the background. I think if I went to a school like Kansas or UNC maybe I would care a little more because something is at stake: school bragging rights. And let's be honest, basketball players are cute and I would have no shame stalking out the star basketball player (or at-least facebooking him).

I have decided that this is my year, I am going to try and figure this whole March Madness thing out. Obviously my first place to turn to was Wikipedia. What I discovered is that March Madness is a single elimination tournament where college teams across America compete for three weeks in March which gives the tournament its name, March Madness (ok that makes enough sense). What makes it so popular is the stories that emerge from the tournament; underdogs, fairy-tale runs, upsets, etc. Ok, ok I love underdogs, this could be a good thing for me.

So, after reading the lengthy page about March Madness (Wikipedia didn't miss at thing), I have one more thing to figure out, who should I root for? Do I go for the popular teams or the teams with the best sports colors or better yet mascots? (From my last blog, we have learned the importance of mascots.)

After much deliberation, I decided to ask my classmates Darcy and Billy what they thought. And Darcy gave me just what I was looking for when she said: "I root for Louisville every year. Not because they are good or bad, but because I figure if I root for the same team long enough, one year they'll pull through."

That may be the worst reasoning for picking a team to follow that I have ever heard and for that reason, it was perfect. So Louisville Cardinals, if that is your real name (I'm really just guessing on the mascot but their website had a red bird on it so I'm assuming I'm correct), you are my ticket to success. Your mission is to teach me everything their is to know about March Madness. So, please, don't get out in the first round.