Keeping my bracket in one piece, for at least one day

Published 12:08 am Friday, March 22, 2013

I had the metaphorical match lit and was holding it under my printed out NCAA Tournament bracket about to set it aflame.

Marquette, No. 3 seed from the East Region, was trailing 14th seed Davidson 58-54 with 20.2 seconds remaining.

I have Marquette reaching the Elite Eight in my bracket, so a first-round upset would be crippling. As I sat there mystified watching the television, all I could think about was how I usually make it to Friday’s games at least before my bracket is torched!

As I lamented, Marquette’s Vander Blue drained a 3-pointer to make it 58-57 with 10 seconds left.

So you’re saying there’s a chance.

Dumb and Dumber humor aside, it still looked like curtains when Davidson got the ball in bounds, but wait! Did he just throw the ball away? Yes.

Five seconds for Marquette to pull off a miraculous comeback and enable Parry’s bracket to live on for at least another hour or so.

Blue coasted in for a game-winning layup.

So one crisis averted, but a quick glance up at the top scoreboard showed top seeded Gonzaga in big trouble against Southern.

A No. 1 seed has never lost to a No. 16 seed in the tournament. To make matters worse, I have Gonzaga in the Final Four!

This would’ve been an ever bigger disaster to Parry’s bracket. When Southern’s Derick Beltran drained a 3-pointer to tie the game, my co-workers began to get excited about possibly witnessing history.

I was not happy thinking there went another year of potential office bragging rights down the drain.

But Gonzaga found a way to pull it out 64-58 and once again, my bracket survived.

At least until Friday.