Part of our family's spring break was spent putting our NCAA March Madness Brackets together. (Do I have to pay somebody, like Jim Nantz, for saying "NCAA March Madness?" Oops. Now I owe even more.) We also watched a lot of basketball and ate lots of treats. I'm not so hot on picking the winners but I do excel in the treat department. I started down the lane with Cheezits...hit the chocolate egg jumper...charged through the ice cream with gusto. Cheezits...chocolate...ice cream: my kind of three-pointer. Anyway, here's how things break down around our place...I break down around our place on a regular basis...but, in this case, I mean the choices:

Alexander: He has always been a huge sports fan. When he was just learning to talk, he could tell you the stats of almost any big name player in almost any big time sport. He even created his own imaginary football league and star-player: Chris Jetts! It was all good fun until the imaginary loan-sharks showed up to collect on all the bad bets Alex had made. Alex based his picks on information gleaned throughout the season...hours of reading on-line sports columns and watching ESPN. It explains why most of his college Blue Books are filled with x's and o's and the answer to every multiple choice question has been James Naismith. So far, I think his final four picks are still intact but, other than KU, I can't tell you what they are. I do know, based on his time home from college, that the only creature that sleeps more is our dog...and, at least the dog takes a walk outside when he eventually gets up. Alex would make it from the basement to a chair in the living room, with a brief stop in the kitchen.

Taylor: This young man has no interest in basketball. When asked for his picks, he responded: Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton.

Samantha: Born and raised in Kansas, she's a cheesehead at heart...or is that cheeseheart at head? Anyway, she will always go for any Wisconsin team. Therefore, she started with UW-Madison as the overall champ and worked backwards. Many years ago, when Samantha was not quite in school, the family would make our NFL picks. Samantha made her choices based on what kind of animal she liked most or, if no creatures were involved, which color she favored. She had a great season! In fact, this was back when Len Dawson was the co-host of Inside The NFL. (Just between us, I quit watching the show when Len quit hosting.) Well, I gave Mr. Dawson a copy of Samantha's picks. He was quite impressed and made a veiled reference to it on that week's show. Very veiled. I may have been the only one to pick up on it. I believe he said something like "Well, I know a few folks who had a very good week..." I just know he meant Samantha. All you really need to know about Samantha's bracket is that, in the end, the Badgers cut down the net.

Harrison: Unfortunately, Harrison's chosen champ is already out. It was a logical pick but that didn't matter. He overcame the disappointment in the same way his father would: Oreos, Cheese Curds and Chocolate Milk. Then, our methods diverged. He went outside to play. I would've stretched out on the sofa and watched The Andy Griffith Show.

Jessica: She chose two 16 seeds to make the finals. Now, truth be told, we have lots of schools to root for at The Big Dance. We both graduated from UW-Madison. (Well, Jessica graduated...I sneaked through while nobody was looking.) So, we can root for the Badgers. When we were in school, the Badgers weren't exactly a basketball powerhouse. They did well in hockey and track and cross-country. Football and basketball...not so much. We have a child at KU, so that's another team in our sights. A couple of the other kids have attended camps at K-State. We even get excited for schools that have sent letters to our college-age kids. At the moment, Jessica's chances of winning the family bracket competition, aren't good...those 16th seeds, you know. However, if she didn't like underdogs, she never would've married me. (I prefer "underdog" to "loser," thank you very much.)

Me: As soon as it was explained to me that "seeds" had nothing to do with gardening, I made some pretty good picks. Well, I don't know if I've made some good guesses or not, to be honest. I have trouble keeping track of who's winning and losing. The last time I really knew a basketball team's record, Oscar Robertson was playing for the Milwaukee Bucks. He was The Big O! We had another Big O in our town. His name was Orlie and he sold cars. What are the odds of a kid knowing two Big O's? Who says I've led a sheltered life? When I first look at the empty bracket I do experience some anxiety. It looks like something from the "Diagram-A-Sentence" portion of my middle school English class. By the time I get it all filled out, I'm exhausted and require fluids and bed-rest. You've seen my guesses on TV about the weather so you can probably figure out my success rate for this competition.

We still have to decide what the winner of our family Bracket-Mania will receive. I'm hoping for Cheezits, chocolate and ice cream.