More boring basketball posts--update

So . . .if you participate in any kind of NCAA pool, how do you choose your picks? That's a lot of games to choose, and I know people put a lot of thought and time into it. APL? Stephanie? I'm curious, and also eager to share my own method with you.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that the best I have ever done is 6th place, just below the money mark, and once I came in second to last place (last place earns you 10 bucks). So, no, I have never won anything.

Here, un-proofed, is my own personal method for March Madness.

1. Always pick Carolina to win it all.

2. Always pick Duke to lose in the first round.

3. Pick all ACC teams, except Duke, to advance at least as far as they are seeded. Pick some to upset higher ranked teams.

4. Pick favorite teams (Michigan State, for Andrea; UConn, for highschool; Delaware, for old time's sake ) to advance.

5. Pick at least 3 upsets in the first two rounds.

6. Pick most Pac-10 teams to lose in the first round. Always pick Stanford to lose before the Sweet Sixteen, even if they are a number 1 seed.

7. Pick Gonzaga to get one round further than expected.

8. Pick the experienced programs (except Duke) to go further than expected.

9. Pick all number 1 seeds to get to the Sweet Sixteen, except Stanford.

10. Guess the remaining games at random, favoring the higher seed about 85% of the time.

That's how it works. folks. I would recommend you not follow any of these rules, as they don't work.

I forgot the most important one: Use any or all of these rules to varying degrees, depending on your mood. Oh, and be sure to fill out at least 2 brackets.

Currently, one of my brackets is in 1st place, and the other is in 4th to last.

Edited to add:

Dear CBS--

Please use better judgment when deciding which games to showcase locally. Hint: when a game is in the second half, and the score is split by 10 points or less, that's the one we want to see. We don't care if Washington is ahead of Utah State by 5 points with 12 minutes left in the first half. Really, we don't. Not when there are three close games about to end. Games that will end in upsets and last second heroics.

Come on. Do you really need a 36 year old mother-of-two to tell you that? Maybe I am wasting my talents on my children.