In which Cinderella's glass shoe breaks...

My bracket after 2 full rounds. Click to make larger.

Last year, I won my March Madness bracket for the first time, after playing for more than ten years.

This year, my winner got busted in the second round.

Yes, I picked Villanova to go back to back as winners.  Because I am an idiot. Because I believed in Cinderella.  And because I cast myself as the Cinderella.  Even though I am last year's reigning champion.

In my defense, there have been 48 games so far, and I picked 39 of them correctly.  Last year I picked 46 games correctly, and there are still 16 more games to go (so I could theoretically beat my # of picks from last year, and still finish in the bottom.)

And I'm still currently in 2nd place.  But obviously, that won't continue.

This may be the earliest I've ever lost my champion in the 10 years of playing.

As I said last year, I don't pretend to be a college basketball guru.  I'm usually picking teams that were hot 20 years ago.  But I usually manage to do okay. Somehow,  I'm still disappointed that I didn't pull out a miracle out of my... let's just say, for politeness sake, out of thin air.

It's unrealistic, but it's still what makes March Madness so interesting-- all the Cinderella stories.

The possibilities that an under-talented team could somehow gut it out on sheer will and beat much more talented teams 5 times in a row to become a national champion.

This dream is what fuels lottery sales, and television shows, and even American political elections.  I think American's love the story of the underdog.

 Last year I was a Cinderella story, but this year, I'm more like a bad episode of People's Court.

I'm still watching March Madness, but I have much less interest in what's going on now.

How are you doing in your bracket?  Are you living Cinderella's dream?

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!

The Camaraderie of Dads: March Madness edition

On Thursday me and 25 other dads in Chicago (and hundreds of other dads around the country) gathered together to drink beer, eat chicken wings, watch college basketball, and trade dad stories.

 Not the ones where you haven't seen your kid all week, and you missed the recital, and now you are going to fix it all with ice cream for dinner-- I'm talking more like "How we found out that my son has Celiac's disease, and why we cook 3 dinners a night to feed our family."  Or "which playgrounds in which order we are going to go to, once the weather gets warm."  And occasionally some B.K. stories (before kids)  Backpacking in Syria or books we read when we had time to read books without pictures.

Oh yes, there were a couple of dirty jokes told as well.


I just moved to Chicago, so I didn't know most of the guys, but it was a pleasure to get to know them in a casual style.  In New York, these dad gatherings were in many ways, my non-traditional water cooler at work, where you take a minute to share the news of the day, chat about problems at work, and maybe figure out something that's been bothering you.
Having this peer group is important to me.  If you are a stay at home dad, or a dad that needs a peer group.  I'd highly recommend checking out City Dads.  They have organizations in a number of cities, and if they don't have one in yours, if you are willing to do some work, they'll help you start one!

Thanks Dove Men Care + for sponsoring this event, and getting dads to share and build camaraderie.  That's #realstrength.

Please note:  A version of this article appeared on the CityDads Blog  on Friday.  Read that, along with some other dads writing their appreciations of the event across the country.