Breaking down the office pool

As you read this, all is right in the world – though barely.

Boston College outlasted Pacific in double overtime, and UCLA defeated Belmont University of Nashville, Tenn. – aka the University of Country Music – on the opening day of the 2006 NCAA basketball tournament Thursday.

My Final Four is still intact.

At least until later today, when Connecticut and Iowa – yes Iowa -play their first-round games.

By then, the master plan toward pool perfection will have unstoppable momentum, because these are the times when everyone is a college basketball expert.

No, not everyone remembers Chris Webber’s ill-fated timeout, or Bill Walton’s 21-of-22 shooting spectacular against Memphis State, or even Keith Smart’s jumper that gave Bob Knight his last national championship.

But that’s all history. March Madness for the masses is all about the here and now, and the spoils that come with winning the office pool.

It’s about Gerry McNamara and J.J. Redick and Craig Smith and Adam Morrison.

And Nana Papa Yaw “Pops” Mensah-Bonsu of George Washington, whose kid brother Benson played for Nokomis High of Newport this winter.

And Darren Mastropaolo of Falmouth, a sophomore forward who does a lot of the dirty work for a Bucknell team making its second straight tourney appearance.

And Kenton Paulino, a senior guard at the University of Texas who refined his skills with a year of postgraduate basketball at Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield.

But you already knew all that, because Bracketology told you so, and everyone’s a student of the game when it comes to Bracketology.

In fact, Challenger, Gray and Christmas, Inc., a global outplacement firm that probably spends too much time researching these sorts of things, estimates that corporate America will suffer a loss of productivity related to NCAA tournament pools of up to $3.8 billion this year.

Time spent on the Internet scanning for a Davidson-Ohio State score, after all, is not time spent getting the job done – or maybe it is.

Then add in the estimated $750 million Americans will wager in office pools, as well as the $3.5 billion that will be bet directly on the tournament.

March Madness is not only basketball, it’s big business.

But lest you think it’s all about gambling, let me assure you it’s not. My bracket doesn’t involve any wagers of the monetary kind, just bragging rights among a few friends who fax copies of their pools to each other and then proceed to hammer the idiot who picked Bucknell to beat Arkansas or Xavier to upend Gonzaga – oops, that would be me.

Hey, if you can’t pick a surprise or two, where’s the fun? Besides, by the time you’ve perused all the Upset Specials and compared the Team-by-Team breakdowns, you and everybody else know that a No. 12 seed almost always beats a No. 5 – like Montana knocking off Nevada.

Or that a 15 seed occasionally upends a No. 2, which almost happened Thursday until Tennessee used a last-second shot to outlast Winthrop.

Oh well, another win for me.

Of course, Winthrop wasn’t supposed to be in the Big Dance to begin with, having already lost to Calais in this year’s Class C state championship.

Ohhh, the Madness. Enjoy the Madness.

Ernie Clark may be reached at 990-8045, 1-800-310-8600 or eclark@bangordailynews.net