It is that time of year when college basketball starts the madness of buzzerbeaters, 3-point shots, cinderalla's, sweet 16's and all the other cliche's used by the TV announcers. In our house it is a time called "Brackets". For a long time I used to reserve my bracket picks for office pools or online contests. It has now become an annual tradition in our home for the entire family to fill out their brackets and see who wins the Final Four. This tradition started when Isaac was old enough to talk and understand the difference between certain animals. When he was young I would ask him which mascot he liked better and that team would advance in his bracket. Marina started the same way but does not get as into it as Isaac, Vycci and I. For those of you who don't know, Vycci is a big college basketball fan (despite her occasional denials). In high school she loved the Hoya's of Georgetown, the Buckeye's of Ohio State, the Hurricanes of Miami and her favorite team the Running Rebels of UNLV. Vycci continues to pick her favorites when we fill out our brackets but she will also watch the bracket selection show to try to beat me out. Isaac has traditionally picked teams that were either Wildcats (Kentucky, Arizona, Villanova) or Wolf Pack (Nevada, North Carolina State). Marina tends to pick the teams who have strange mascot names (Gaels, Golden Flashes, Torero) of course she also doesn't do that well in her bracket. I usually pick my brackets based upon who I think will win and I always pick upsets. My favorite teams include the TarHeels of North Carolina, the BearCats of Cincinnati (not in it this year) and the Gators of Florida. Honorable mentions include the Bruins of UCLA, the Jayhawks of Kansas and the Orangemen of Syracuse (also not in it this year).
So it is that every March my family fills out brackets and I score them as the tournament progresses. I give 1 point for correct picks in the first round, 2 points in the second and so on. The winner is the person who has the most overall points on their bracket. So now the question you might have is how do I get my kids to do this. Well, first of all they like picking the mascots and seeing who is the last mascot standing, but more importantly the winner of the brackets gets to choose which ice cream place we get to go to when it's all over. Vycci likes Basking Robbins and DQ, Marina and Isaac like Sonic and DQ while I enjoy Coldstone or DQ. In short, we all win but have a fun time watching most of the games, cheering for Bulldogs, BlueDevils and Musketeers knowing that in the end ice cream is on Dad! Go TarHeels!
4 comments:
I'm SOOOO not into basketball, but it's fun to hear about your family's enthusiasm! What a fun tradition you've started and a great way to come together! Oh, and, thanks for posting! :)
Fun! Last year Brian actually printed a bracket and cut out each time and had Isabel pick the winners that way. It was a LONG process, I can't believe he saw it threw until she had picked every single game. Our family winner last year got $1. High stakes!
That's a fun family activity! Did you get any tickets to the games at the Pepsi Center? I heard they sold out fast.
Danny, you are so funny with your family....you remind me of the way my grandpa was...hahahaha especially the ice cream part.....I personally am a DQ fan....
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