It’s March!!! Yes, I know it’s been March for a few days now, but as of this week, it’s officially March and the long-awaited (by basketball fans) March Madness is here! The 2025 NCAA Division 1 Men’s Basketball Championship. This is the time my wife says she has officially OD’d on basketball! While she’s not a big basketball fan other than Howard Payne and Brownwood High School, she will watch some with me, and even end up watching after I fall asleep then tell me what a game I’ve missed. She cut through the chase and jumped to the “champion” but her pick lost yesterday.
March Madness starts with the elite college basketball teams from all over the nation as well as the “Cinderella” teams that got in. Obviously, there are some really good – really good teams I enjoy watching. This year it has been well represented by Texas teams including Baylor, Tech, Houston and A&M. There are something like sixty-four teams to start then the second round goes down to the Sweet Sixteen. Those teams then play in the Elite Eight, then the Final Four to get to the National Championship game which will be on April 7. Until that date, there is a LOT of basketball to be played.
There are those who anxiously await the “bracket” to come out. Some have great knowledge they use to complete them picking the winners from each game all the way down to the championship. Then there are those who use various other means to pick. There was a story the other day from Bracketville, Texas which they said has a high percentage of wins. One young man chose his teams by the basketball goal. If it came off to the right it was one team, and if it came off to the left it was the other. Another man based it on his cattle.
This year our grandsons, Hayden and Saeger, were ready to complete their bracket along with their dad, then couldn’t wait to see mine. I’m not much of a bracket person (as evidenced by the teams that have lost) but it was fun to “play along”. The greatest “picker” in their household though was their mom. She based her bracket based solely on mascots! Mascots! As of the last report last night, she was ahead of the rest of them. It will be interesting to see if she has the champion – based on mascots!
Until next time, so long everybody.
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‘Out of the Box’ with Dallas Huston is published each Monday morning at BrownwoodNews.com. Dallas was the radio voice of the Brownwood Lions and Howard Payne Yellow Jackets for more than 55 years. He currently is Pastor of Center City Baptist Church and hosts a Men’s Bible Study in Brownwood on Monday evenings. Your comments are welcome at lindalh2@verizon.net.