March Madness!

I love March.  March means the first day of Spring, the daffodils are popping up all over… and college basketball teams square off in March Madness.  I’m a huge college basketball fan – not just of my beloved Hawks but of the sport in general.  There’s too much ego in the NBA, but in college basketball, you can just feel the heart these kids have for the game and it makes it so fun to watch.

When I started college, I didn’t know much about college basketball – but I was learning.  Facebook had just come out, and that March they started the Facebook Bracket Challenge.  With no background on any of the teams – I was left to come up with my own rules.  Now I can make a pretty serious bracket, but I still follow these rules on at least one bracket when March comes around. 

Cassie’s Rules for March Madness

1) First and foremost: if Saint Joe’s is in the tournament – no matter what they are seeded – THEY WIN THE TOURNAMENT.  No questions asked.

2) Secondly, and just as importantly – Villanova and Temple always lose in the first round.  Always.

2a) If for whatever reason, Temple and Villanova play each other in the first round… Villanova loses.  Period.

3) Always have pride for your fellow Atlantic 10 league schools.  If SJU isn’t in the tournament, pick an A-10 team to win the tournament.  (Unless it’s Temple.  See rule 2.)

4) Similarly, have pride for the fellow Jesuit schools in the tournament.  Best case scenario – if SJU isn’t in the tourney, and Xavier is in the tournament… pick X to win.  A-10 pride + Jesuit pride = double whammy.

5) If a family member’s or a friend’s alma mater is in the tournament, make sure they do well.  The level of friendship with the friend determines how well their team does.  For example – one year my MOH’s alma mater – Cal Berkeley was in the tournament.  I’m pretty sure I remember taking them to the finals that year.  But if it’s simply a friendly acquaintance from high school, only take their team as far as they can go before they meet another team that fulfills one of the requirements above.

6) There is another girl out there who has the exact same first name and last name as I do.  She graduated from the University of Illinois.  While I’ve never met the other Cassie, her school gets decent rank in my bracket. 

7) I was born in Missouri, and raised in New Jersey.  If Mizzou (or any other Missouri) school is in the tournament, that gives them some weight.  The same can be said with Princeton, or any other Jersey school.  (well except Rutgers.  I’m not a huge fan of Rutgers.)

I’m also a big fan of Cinderella teams – aka underdog teams that make a great run in the tournament.  Of course, no one can predict a Cinderella team before the start of the tournament, so if there is a team that has made a fairy tale run in the tournament in the past few years, I tend to favor them as well.  (i.e. George Mason and Butler)

9) If all else fails, follow your gut.  There are some games that don’t follow any of the criteria above, but just go with your first guess!

So what does a bracket that follows these rules look like after the first 3 rounds?

After this past week, my bracket is pretty dead (as you can see) but it was still so fun to put it together.  I look forward to it every year, and miss the days of the Facebook Bracket Challenge!  I might not have much left for the next few rounds, but that doesn’t mean it’s not exciting!

Do you make a bracket?  How do you choose your teams?  Besides this bracket – I also pick a “real” one… although Villanova still lost in the first round – and that seemed to be a good prediction on my part!

The weekend, as briefly as possible

So in all that is unfair and cruel, Robert has had off for the whole week for Spring Break.  However, since I’m not working in Public Accounting anymore, I was able to take a day off with him to enjoy some time together.  We started our Friday with a wedding chore… picking up our Marriage Certificate!  We headed down to the courthouse in Media, PA in the morning to pick up our [expensive] right to marry.

To celebrate, we headed downtown to cash out some Groupons that I’ve been collecting.  Our first stop was The Academy of Natural Science to check out some dinosaurs!  Robert loves dinos  

Rawr!

After the museum (and all of the screaming children on field trips), we needed to refuel with some Mexican food and of course some alcoholic beverages at Mexican Post!  We had a Groupon for this as well, and since I do love myself some Mexcian Post, I jumped at the opportunity to visit!

We feasted on nachos, burritos (for the boy) and fajitas (for me!)  Super yum, as usual!

After our feast, we high-tailed it to the closest pub to watch the second half of the SJU-Duquense game in the A-10 Tournament Quarterfinals… which we WON!  What an amazing way to round out the day.  There was even another Hawk fan in the bar to share in the excitement.  High-fives all around!  The Hawk Will Never Die!

Saturday, we started out the day with another Hawk game, this time against Dayton in the Semi-finals.  Unfortunately we lost, but I couldn’t help but be appreciative of how the team really rallied around for the second half of this rebuilding year.  We have a strong freshman class, and I can’t wait to see how next year goes!

After the game, we headed out to join the Erin Express!  We really only went to one bar, but the beers were good, people watching was classic, and company was handsome.  What more could a girl ask for?

It was a great long weekend, just like this was a [great?] long post.  I know I said I’d keep it brief… but I couldn’t help it!  How was your weekend?

Look Ma, No Knee Pain!

Yesterday was one of the best days I’ve had all year.  I got up to run in the morning – and wasn’t hobbling around on my high heels for the rest of the day!  I could walk downstairs, I could bend down to untie my shoes, and I didn’t have to spend all day elevating my knee on my trashcan!  (use your imagination for that one if you want a good laugh)  Best of all, my run felt almost effortless, and it was one of my fastest yet.

Yee haw!  I owe it all to my knee brace (which is so stylin, I can’t even handle it!) and the week of rest that I unintentionally took all last week lol.  Now that it helped heal my knee, I’ll just pretend it was a week off for the sake of injury.  Sounds good, right?  I’m glad to be back to running normally, now I just have to get back in the swing of going to the gym more than once a week. 

Anyway, yesterday was a true test of the BYOD method of Surviving Busy Season.  I didn’t have a chance to make a new soup for dinner this week, so I am relying on two servings of Butternut Squash soup or salad for the week.  Last night the whole team decided to eat their chinese take-out family style – all 10 of us gathered around one table to eat dinner.  I had so many people ask “why didn’t you order with us?!”  or “what’s in your salad?!”  And I really really really wanted fried rice.  But I stuck with my salad, and made it through… somehow.  I felt accomplished after dinner – really proud for not caving and eating with my emotions.  Besides – my salad was damn good   I’ve got to channel my inner high-schooler and avoid all this peer pressure once and for all!

On a totally random note…. GO HAWKS!  My beloved Saint Joseph’s Hawks are on a 3-game winning streak, including a thriller against Dayton on Saturday.  Robert and I had so much fun being in the crowd for the game, and I’m so bummed out that I’ll be missing the game tonight.  Nothing beats a great game in a LOUD fieldhouse!

What’s your favorite sports team?  I’ve always been partial to the Phillies, and once I got to college I fell in love with the Hawks (obviously!)  Since dating Robert, I’ve also developed a soft spot for the New York Rangers - not quite a popular stance to take here in Philly!