"It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year!"

By that, of course, I mean it's March Madness time!

Yes, it's the Big Dance, that special time of year when the Top 64 NCAA basketball teams battle it out over several weeks to choose a National Champion.

Part of the fun of March Madness, aside from watching the incessant TV coverage of the games, is the Tournement Bracket betting pool.

I'm in for $10 this year, and if I win I'll end up with 70% of the prize pool. Second place gets you 30%, and for 3rd you get your ten bucks back. I could win a G on this.

Here's an image of the 64 team bracket:

After yesterday's sixteen games, I stand at 12-4, which isn't too bad, but the first round is usually easy to pick because there are so many top seeds playing against bottom seeds. The one upset I didn't foresee was Texas A&M (12) over Syracuse (5); and the Oklahoma (6) loss to Wisconsin-Milwaukee (11) didn't help much either.

Going to the Final Four, I've picked Duke, UConn, BC, and Gonzaga. If these teams all make it, I'm pretty much in the money. For the final, I got Duke over UConn, with 155 total points scored (the point total is the tiebreaker if someone else picked as many winners as you). I'm a big UConn fan, but if they lose while Duke wins and it makes me money, I'll somehow get over the disappointment.

Whatever happens, it's still a great time of the year. Spring is just around the corner, and I'll soon take the cover off my sailboat "Full Tilt" and get ready for a fun summer.