Slice of Life: Home Bracketology

(This is for the Slice of Life challenge for March, hosted by Two Writing Teachers. We are writing each day about the small moments in the larger perspective … or is that the larger perspective in the smaller moments? You write, too.)

You know it’s March in our house when NCAA brackets start showing up everywhere. On the counters. On the floor. In the mudroom. By the shoes. Under beds. On desks. In backpacks.

Every day that our newspaper comes out, with a blank NCAA bracket as part of an advertising campaign (we sent in our picks to win some gift cards), one of the kids grabs it and starts filling it in.

We, of course, have our “real” brackets, too, but they like doing other ones. I think the youngest is just intrigued by the nature of bracket eliminations and match-ups, and the visual playfulness of bracketology. And as I have written about in other years, our dog, Duke, has his own NCAA bracket in the house, determined over a long activity with the process of which of the two hands he sniffs with his nose (they both contain kibble) for each match-up.

I know you want to know: Duke has the University of Northern Iowa winning the whole shebang! Now, that would be a tournament upset worthy of a dog biscuit or two. (Ironically, he has never chosen Duke to win it all).

Peace (the games start today!),
Kevin