NCAA Tourney Bracket Pool

[Judge Jude]

me too

[Pogues]

What? Did no one else pick Georgia St. to beat Baylor? Of course I bought into the SF Austin hype...

[dslaw]

That Saturday game between SFAustin and Eastern Washington will be exciting. I've been married a long time and the wife does brackets but when we first got together she had no idea how they worked. There would be a game between Utah and Georgetown and she would ask who I picked. I would say Stephen F Austin and she just couldn't figure out why I would pick a team that wasn't even playing.

[heyelander]

Currently winning...

just sayin'...

[Judge Jude]

the ultimate March Madness: Davidson-Iowa game just had 10 white players on court at once

not a trick comment: clock was running, game actually being played

[heyelander]

the ultimate March Madness: Davidson-Iowa game just had 10 white players on court at once

not a trick comment: clock was running, game actually being played

not ripping you in particular, but why is this still a thing? I feel like this is a microagression... "hey, we white people can still play basketball when we want." Either that or it's "hey, those black people sure have taken over our basketball, how odd is this?" Either way it seems like an anachronism to still note it.

[Judge Jude]

No offense taken, at all. I understand where you're coming from.

But I could ask if it's possible you are a little stuck in the past. Fortunately, this is 2015 and someone noticing something unusual - like the majority of players being African-American yet by happenstance it appears that in one game the players at one point in time all appear to be white - is no big deal.

there was a long and awful history in this country, and we're moving forward. I have 10 nephews and nieces - all in their 20s. The 1960s are the 1860s, to so many of their generation. It's stuff in a history book, and with parents who more likely (as in the case of my siblings) didn't push a hateful agenda, they just don't get what they are told old uptight white people apparently used to think. That has helped me understand, I think, where we are now. and spending a decade of my life in a work environment where the majority of my daily interactions were with African-Americans didn't hurt, either.

there is no real difference between the unlikelihood of all 10 players being white or all 10 players being left-handed, which also would be remarkable (says this southpaw). or all players with last names beginning with the letters A B C or D.

If I was in a bar with a black colleague and we were watching that game, either one of us might race to make that remark. so what? it's a curiosity, based on pct of types of players. and yeah, if I was watching the game with a white 80-yr-old and he said something and added in a negative vibe, I'd be annoyed.

but the more that racism is an anachronism, the better. and the future we seek to attain is not that the era which was parodied in Seinfeld as George Costanza tried to claim to a black acquaintance that he wasn't aware the guy was black. that's silly. some people have darker skin than others. noticing that is not racist. what would be racist is acting more negatively toward someone because of that, which is beyond ignorant. it's just pigmentation. it has for centuries been more, alas, but I believe the change is gonna come - and to some extent, it already has.

one of my Irish nieces is living with a Korean-American boyfriend now. they weren't nervous about him meeting our family, in terms of his ethnicity anyway. there are no relatives left who would be "queasy" about it. not a brave new world everywhere, but it is in lots of places.

[DJBeasties]

No offense taken, at all. I understand where you're coming from.

But I could ask if it's possible you are a little stuck in the past. Fortunately, this is 2015 and someone noticing something unusual - like the majority of players being African-American yet by happenstance it appears that in one game the players at one point in time all appear to be white - is no big deal.

there was a long and awful history in this country, and we're moving forward. I have 10 nephews and nieces - all in their 20s. The 1960s are the 1860s, to so many of their generation. It's stuff in a history book, and with parents who more likely (as in the case of my siblings) didn't push a hateful agenda, they just don't get what they are told old uptight white people apparently used to think. That has helped me understand, I think, where we are now. and spending a decade of my life in a work environment where the majority of my daily interactions were with African-Americans didn't hurt, either.

there is no real difference between the unlikelihood of all 10 players being white or all 10 players being left-handed, which also would be remarkable (says this southpaw). or all players with last names beginning with the letters A B C or D.

If I was in a bar with a black colleague and we were watching that game, either one of us might race to make that remark. so what? it's a curiosity, based on pct of types of players. and yeah, if I was watching the game with a white 80-yr-old and he said something and added in a negative vibe, I'd be annoyed.

but the more that racism is an anachronism, the better. and the future we seek to attain is not that the era which was parodied in Seinfeld as George Costanza tried to claim to a black acquaintance that he wasn't aware the guy was black. that's silly. some people have darker skin than others. noticing that is not racist. what would be racist is acting more negatively toward someone because of that, which is beyond ignorant. it's just pigmentation. it has for centuries been more, alas, but I believe the change is gonna come - and to some extent, it already has.

one of my Irish nieces is living with a Korean-American boyfriend now. they weren't nervous about him meeting our family, in terms of his ethnicity anyway. there are no relatives left who would be "queasy" about it. not a brave new world everywhere, but it is in lots of places.

that was awesome

[Pogues]

not ripping you in particular, but why is this still a thing? I feel like this is a microagression... "hey, we white people can still play basketball when we want." Either that or it's "hey, those black people sure have taken over our basketball, how odd is this?" Either way it seems like an anachronism to still note it.

Serious Heyelander is a downer.

[heyelander]

Serious Heyelander is a downer.

then I'll stop after this.

Thanks for the reply JJ... I agree with 99.9% of it, and I think maybe I'm holding you to a higher standard than I would most other people here since your writing is part of the establishment (not here, but in general). While I agree that a good bit of individual racism has been stamped out, and the people who hang onto it are anachronisms that are generally called out on it, I think institutional racism is still very alive and insidious. If my buddy had thrown it out at a bar I probably wouldn't have thought twice about it, but coming from a journalist, I wonder what the greater message that is being heard is. It's the gritty white guy, athletic black guy trope. Just trying to be a little more sensitive to my privileged in life.

[bryanbutler]

wayne is just mad because he's not on top any more.

cut him some slack. jeez.

[Judge Jude]

There is nothing wrong with what heyelander wrote. It's a very useful discussion and I respect his viewpoint entirely.....

[Pogues]

There is nothing wrong with what heyelander wrote. It's a very useful discussion and I respect his viewpoint entirely.....

Serious Jude kinda sucks too.

[Judge Jude]

on a slightly different note:

Rank Team Name Score Correct Best Score Best Correct Champion
1 Jason Collette 28 28 186 58 Kentucky (113)
2 Gregg Nelson 27 27 181 55 Wisconsin (108)
3 Joe Pierotti 26 26 178 54 Kentucky (136)
3 Wayne Stevens 26 26 166 52 Kentucky (123)
3 willthethrill 26 26 176 53 Villanova (119)

[willthethrill]

Let's go 'Nova!

I don't know why I root for anybody.