Final Four is Final, and I am a winner. And Life goes On.

Last night, Villanova defeated North Carolina for the Final Four championship.

Wait-- let me rephrase that.

Last night, Villanova defeated North Carolina for the Final Four championship AS I PREDICTED.

Yes, I chose Villanova to be the team to go all the way, and I ended up winning my bracket. [I didn't win the CITYDADS bracket because some other joker picked Villanova too, and while I predicted 46  out of 63 games correctly, he predicted more.]

But I did win the 23rd ANNUAL WELL VIRTUAL MARCH MADNESS POOL, which I've been playing in for 10+ years, and while I've come close a couple of times, I've never won before.

Don't get all excited.  No money is involved, it's strictly bragging rights.  And brag I shall!

I don't pretend to be a college basketball guy.  In fact, I usually joke that I pick my bracket on who was hot in college basketball 20 years ago.

But I managed to pick them.  And it was an exciting game.

It was a VERY exciting game.  Villanova won on a buzzer beating 3 point shot.  That was after North Carolina clawed back from a 10 point deficit to tie it with 4.7 seconds left to go on the clock.  (And that shot was an improbably bomb from Downtown.)

But Villanova regrouped, their big guy set a great pick, got it to their team captain, who did what he was supposed to do and passed it to an open guy who popped it in with time winding down.

Here's the video:



And here's just a little bit of the commentary:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/05/sports/ncaabasketball/unc-villanova-national-championship.html


It was an exciting game, and a thing of beauty.  And now it's over.

This is one of the most important lessons that I'm teaching my son.  It's great to have victories.  It's great to win. And if you can avoid losing, you should. But guess what? Either way, Life goes on.  The big game is over, and you still have to brush your teeth and eat your vegetables and do your exercises and study your vocabulary words.

You can buy this volume of great poems
on Amazon.

I've been sharing a poem a day for National Poetry Month on Periscope and Youtube, and the one I read for yesterday (after the Villanova win of course!) was particularly apropo.  It's Ex-Basketball Player by John Updike.  (I know, I know!  I didn't know John Updike wrote poems either!)
And it's about a guy who was a great basketball player who now works at the local gas station.

The poem is a little prosaic, but it paints a great picture.

You can read the poem directly online, or you can listen to me read it below.

Either way, enjoy.

And brush your teeth!