Back to work, no chance for escape.

Well, I had my shot, took my chances, tried to grab the brass ring.  A billion dollars, and they were just waiting to hand it over, to me.  "Here you go, Tim, a billion dollars, and man, are we glad you won."  I was ready.  All I had to do was pick all of the winners in the NCAA tournament.  How hard could that be?  Let's face it, there are two teams in each game, and one of them is going to win, and one will lose, so that makes it one in two, or 50 % of getting it right, and some games are just obvious, right?  So, all of the sudden I am at like 60 % - 40 %, maybe 70 - 30.  It was almost a sure thing.

To increase my odds even further I decided to use the power of the internet, and research each game carefully.  By using a formula that gives extra weight to road wins and wins against "quality opponents, further I planned to research common opponents, and maybe even move out two or three degrees, and compare point spreads, rebounds, and assists, figuring that was the key factor in deciding most games.  I was so excited.

But, when I went to the first game, Florida, vs Albany, they didn't have any common opponents, and none of the teams either of them had played ever faced an opponent from the other team, and this was out to the third place, dang this was going to take a while.  But, Florida was going to win, so I chose them.  On to Pitt vs. Colorado.  Again, no common opponents, and maybe they only had one cycle to get to someone but, I didn't have forever, you know.  And I just don't much care for Pitt, so I chose Colorado.  And people say VCU is good, and their coach is actually named Smart, so that is good, I choose VCU.

Soon, I was just flying through the sheet, a guiding light showing me the way, almost casting a glow on the winning team!  Man, this was too easy.  Some higher power, some unseen force wanted me to win a billion dollars, and do good things with it.  It was almost like cheating!

Wednesday night I could hardly sleep.  Three weeks, and I would be rollin' in the samoleans, saying sayonara to the good folks at work, and setting sail for prosperity, wealth and casual indulgence, with a polite nod to charity of course, no point is being greedy, right?

Then, the unthinkable happened.  I was knocked out before the first day was really even started.  How could this happen?  Harvard, Mercer and North Dakota State all won in the first round!  What?  Well, fate had a nice laugh, at my expense, but, we are friends again.  It was a silly indulgence, anyway, and who really needs a billion dollars.  I can live without it, until next year.