If You Can’t Beat’em…Join’em

That’s the advice my mother would give me. I remember my mom going to the race track with my Dad most Sunday afternoons. I would question her and she’d say, “if you can’t beat’em…join’em. I don’t necessarily want to go to the race track but your father enjoys going and I enjoy being with him”.

So come on ladies suck it up and let us help you come up with some fun ways to enjoy MARCH MADNESS with the man in your life!

First Up…Learn the Lingo

Bracketology… I don’t want to go too in depth here, but the most important thing to know is that the term was deemed by Joe Lunardi, bracketologist for ESPN. It’s the process of predicting the line up for the NCAA tournament. People use “Bracketology” to fill in their tournament pools.

Extra Credit Points for You…Joe Lunardi also teaches an online “Bracketology” course @ Saint Joseph’s University.

Double Extra Credit for You…Joe may have invented the term, but he’s been ranked 23rd for his results in the past four tournaments.

On the Bubble… there are teams that are pretty much guaranteed a spot and then there are some teams on the fringe that have to fight their way in…those teams are “on the Bubble”. Teams not fairing so well are in “Bubble Trouble” and some teams had their “bubble burst” in an effort to make it to the top 68.

The S Curve… I know, it sounds like the new Victoria Secret Bra – and it’s a little too tricky for me to explain – so this is a good question to engage your guy in B-Ball talk. You may even stump him!

The Big Dance…we’re not referring to the Prom here, we’re talking about another informal way of talking about the NCAA Men’s Division 1 Championship.

Selection Sunday…The Sunday before the tournament starts where teams whose “bubble” burst and teams who lost in the preliminary tournament may still be selected by “the Committee” to be in the “Big Dance” and then the “seeds” are placed in their respective “brackets”. Got it?

Now that you’ve got down the important lingo, it’s time to decide how involved you want to get. I recommend filling out a bracket on your own, enter the NDH/Famous Tavern Pool (click here for more info). Pick your teams the way I pick horses, by the color of their uniforms, nicknames, or maybe you like the long shots? I’ll bet that you’ll do just as well as any guy out there if you do it that way! Maybe you like Kentucky because you like Ashly Judd & she goes to all the games or you just like saying “Go Big Blue!”. If you want to be more “scientific” with your picks… then by all means feel free to pick numerically. You’ll see in the bracket next to each team name there is a number too – that number is their rank in the region – note lower numbers are better teams – so 1 is the best team in that region. Whatever the reason just DO IT…you’ll have fun watching the games because you’ll have something to cheer about.

How about a sporty yet stylish and cute outfit to get you in the spirit? They have everything from headbands & underwear to cheerleading skirts and knee highs. You could even go as far as to have your nails done in team colors or get something fun painted on like the Penn State “paws”. There are all sorts of fun girly ways to enjoy March Madness.

Advice for you from Joshua & his “March Madness Widows Syndrome” Blog…

“Cash in on his{your mans} attachment to the TV by bartering with him. Tell him that you’ll trade prime time right now for dinner and a movie after the tournament. And you pick the movie. Make him watch The Bounty Hunter with you. Make him take you shopping on a Saturday afternoon when he would rather clean the garage than be at the mall. Get to work writing that “Honey Do” list and trade each game that he wants to watch for something on the list. Be fair though, some things on your list might be worth 2 games. I know that getting him to treat you nicely shouldn’t require blackmail, but getting him to treat you extra nicely and having him feel like you are letting him enjoy his favorite time of year all at the same time sounds like a win-win situation to me.

Joshua…I wonder how many enemies you made with that advice?

For all the ladies out there that LOVE basketball, follow and know what the heck is going on, good for you! This was not intended to insult anyone, but to help the majority of ladies that need and want a little help. For those ladies, there’s actually a book out there to help you with all sports and it’s called “She”s Got Game” by Melissa Malamut. I haven’t had the opportunity to read the book, but I did manage to read some reviews and they were great!