Well, That's It: My Bracket Officially Busted

My bracket is officially busted.

That took -- what? -- like three days? Couldn't even get out of the second round.

UCLA losing (so so badly) to Villanova was the start.

Texas losing (barely and ugly) to Duke was the finish.

Oh, sure my Final Four is still alive (including my final "big bet" -- Syracuse over UNC), but I won't be winning any bracket contests.

At this point, all I can hope for is to finish ahead of last year's 18th percentile. We'll see.

For the record, after 1.5 rounds:
*Dan Shanoff: 350 points (40th percentile).
*Barack Obama: 350 points.
*"Higher Seed Wins" method: 360 points (54th percentile).
*"National Bracket": 380 points (80th percentile)

By the way, after UCLA lost -- effectively imploding my bracket -- and I was sitting there bored and stunned through the late-afternoon blowouts, I actually had an epiphany:

I realized why my bracket picks this year -- perhaps every year -- are so flawed.

I'll explain tomorrow.

For now, I'll take advantage of the (relatively) early ending to the evening after the late-night first rounds and re-charge for tomorrow.

-- D.S.