How's your bracket looking?

The other night at soccer practice (yep, it's that time of the year...again), fellow "Dodger Dog fan" Dad and I were hanging out on the soccer field sideline, making light of our decision to wear shorts even as the southerly wind and 40 degree sunset temps made our respective leg hairs stand up and take notice.

Out of nowhere he blurted out, "So how's your bracket doing?"

It took me more than a few seconds of confused long-term memory brain parsing to figure out his query string and by the look on my face, he quickly realized that I didn't immediately realize what the heck he was talking about.

He was, of course, referring to NCAA Basketball and the Road to the Final Four.

I had to tell him that the greatest influence into my seasonal barely-more-than-slight-interest in college hoops was in vacation mode for the second of two weeks floating down the Rhine River. See, my F-i-L lives for March Madness, which surprised the heck out of the rest of the family when he agreed to take my M-i-L on a 14-day across the pond excursion during the height of college round ball mayhem.

So, without my wife's Dad to provide me daily updates while working side-by-side on our current house project (mudroom this month), of each and every game he's watched (including the Woman's games, which he admittedly finds more fun to watch), I've been in a collegiate b-ball isolation chamber.

Imagine my surprise to find my grad school alma mater making the Elite 8 and favored (somewhat) to get to the FF.

Go Bruins!

(Sigh)

Okay, that's enough sports fanaticism for this year. Mushing back to the mudroom now.