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Thursday, Mar. 14, 2002 - 10:10 p.m.

Throw the brackets out the open window

Another NCAA tournament, another year my chances of winning the pool are out the window on the first day.

Upsets are the norm during the first two days of play each March. In fact, they're what make the first weekend interesting. Which double-digit seeds will advance to the second round? Which will earn the title of "Cinderella" and reach the Sweet 16? So with Gonzaga done, I've lost one of my Final Four teams before the first day is complete. I've lost four Sweet 16 teams out of 11 playing today.

And I didn't take Maxim's advice and put $100 on each of the four No. 12 seeds -- one always wins, usually at 6-1 odds, so the $400 combined bet is covered with one win. And two No. 12s won today (Missouri and Tulsa). I knew Missouri would win; Tulsa I had a feeling about but then decided against picking them in my brackets.

But I'm not a gambler, and I don't anticipate becoming one. I've grown to like the casino games on iWon.com, but only the ones in which you play for iWon chips, not real money. I may make it to Atlantic City one day (yeah, I've grown up in the Garden State and never been to A.C. to gamble) and I may return to Vegas and try my luck, but I don't anticipate any kind of regular betting action other than friendly wagers around the office for pizzas or something. But that 20-20 hindsight second guessing is rough, especially when it could have been lucrative.

So Notre Dame won, easily, as did Duke, more easily, so the two meet Saturday afternoon, either at 1:10 or 3:36 p.m. CBS hasn't decided the lineup yet. I'm excited, anticipating it, but I don't know ...

It was a wickedly warm day -- high 60s -- and Lori and I spent the better part of the afternoon cleaning the apartment. Scrubbing the floors. On hands and knees. In Cinderella clothes. Well, she was wearing ratty sweats and a t-shirt; I was in a shirt, shorts and baseball cap. I vacuumed the entire place and then cleaned the toilet and scrubbed the bathtub, getting rid of the hardwater stains, particularly on the faucet -- once white, now gleaming. Then I tackled the microwave while Lori spent more than an hour on her hands and knees scrubbing the kitchen floor with a sponge and now the white tiles shine in the sunlight. After that, we broke for lunch -- I paid more attention to college basketball and she returned to the internet -- and then I got to my knees and scrubbed the bathroom floor with the sponge. Finally, while I showered, Lori polished the wood floors in the hallway and the exposed corners of our rooms so that they, too, now shine. It was all done with the windows open and a light breeze blowing through the apartment, which needed the airing out, and left us with a good feeling of accomplishment to our day.

Now I've got to clean all kinds of stuff off my bed since I just threw it there to get it off the floor and make sure I send in my tax returns and pay my credit card and cell phone bills before I leave for Florida on Wednesday. And I have to coordinate the next few days, with what to take, etc., for the weekend and when to pack and all that.

Yep.

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