Bob Lobel: The Embarrassment of Bracketology

By Bob Lobel (@boblobel)

So it's on, the true forerunner of all fantasy leagues.

Bracketology has been involving those, and there are many, who knew nothing and cared less about winning and losing, and which teams were playing and where.

It just got people involved for fun, and a chance to get lucky in filling out a local bracket from their office pool. These brackets have a long history of making individuals who guessed their way into immortality and, in the process, picked up some unexpected spending money.  

Yes, bragging rights are included. Those left in the wake of the fortunate few include most men/women who think they know more than the coaches of the teams they picked. There was always plenty of action going on in the TV sports office this time of year.

I hid in the back office.

That’s right, I almost never ever got involved in these public humiliations, knowing it was inevitable that I would see my name close to the bottom of the list. 

That would expose me as a fraud, since sportscasters are expected to know about stuff like filling out winning brackets of the NCAA tournament. When it comes to this exercise, I am a perpetual loser, while people who never watched a game or even heard of Gonzaga were on the verge of being king or queen of the brackets. 

Decades ago, when someone thought of these bracket games, I would have been happy with anything. That hasn’t changed much. The money gets larger and larger, and the brackets are more prevalent than ever. Time to disappear.

Good luck to anyone who is willing to expose themselves. Game on.  

And spring training heats up. Not that long ago, the Red Sox were touted as the greatest team ever. Go check out the headline in the Herald. Turned out to be a little premature. Nobody is going to say that again, but the irony is that it just might be true this year. Forget the descriptive terms “greatest" and "ever,” but this team could be special. 

Expectations after last season's last place disaster are pretty low. That’s a huge advantage around here. They have players with terrific upsides and youth. While it will take fans a few months to get to know them, they should be looking down at the rest of the AL East. 

The right chemistry is there. Obviously, it's safer for me to say this than to opine that Kentucky will lose in the semifinal game. 

Why not pick them to win? Cause when you do something that obvious you know everyone else will too, and that is not a winning strategy. 

You need to pick the upsets at the right time. Too tough for me. 

The whole Revis conversation has been fascinating. It has split Patriots fans into two camps. There are those who say the team is blowing a chance for a 5th Super Bowl and immortality, and there are those who say Kraft is more interested in money than another title. 

Neither are true. Balance is everything. 

Seeing and being in the moment with it can be difficult, but let me point out that the owner in town with the credentials of making money his priority is Jeremy Jacobs. Let's stop there for now.   

Nobody is better than the Patriots right now. Nobody may be better than the Red Sox either. When it comes to filling out NCAA brackets, everybody else is better, and I know it.