Thursday night games:
The dream is still alive. Thanks to predicting the first day's lone real upset, it was a Thursday I will never forget. Let the record show that Shelbi sold her soul for a grilled cheese sandwich. With VCU steadily coming back against a fragile UCLA team, the Bruins appeared to be on the verge of one of their patented meltdowns as the Rams trailed by one with 11 seconds to play and the ball. With my perfect Thursday on the line, I begged Shelbi to turn her focusing powers around, offering to make her a grilled cheese sandwich. She couldn't turn it down and willed VCU's final shot to come up short. Part of me almost wanted Western Kentucky to blow its upset against Illinois a few minutes later just to relieve the pressure on me. Seriously, I'm a wreck now. It's going to be tough to sleep with this 16-0 record looming over me. By the way, to anyone who may have been lucky enough to be at the Rose Garden tonight, was the officiating in that game as bad as it looked on TV? I don't know what the Jumbotron showed but it looked like the refs blew about 4 calls down the stretch all in favor of the Illini.

The damage today is as follows: two doughnuts and a large coffee for breakfast, 1 large pizza destroyed, 0.5 bags of cheese popcorn consumed in lieu dinner, five empty soda cans and two empty Capri Suns lined up in front of me (that's right, Capri Suns. I'm going old school this week), two chocolate covered Oreos downed, zero showers and zero losses. It's been a good day.

Thursday evening games:
Before I begin, I need to briefly say that the hands down highlight of this round of games was Shelbi trash talking Elliott after Michigan narrowly beat Clemson. Elliott had Clemson randomly selected for him and Shelbi's victory moved her ahead of her three month old son in the standings. I believe her exact words were "What's up now?" And then she raised the roof with her hands. This actually happened.

12-0. This is unprecedented. Granted there hasn't been a significant upset yet but I am the only person in my pool who is undefeated, which of course means that I have been increasingly insufferable to be around. My goofy dance following each win has gone from a 5-second jig to a full-fledged Charleston wtih a few shimmies thrown in for good measure. My shot at the million dollar bracket is still intact and, of course by saying that I have done the equivalent of talking to a pitcher in the middle of a no-hitter. I'm going to go 0-4 in the night games and lose a Final 4 team in the process.

I suppose now would be as good a time as any to delve into a somewhat controversial subject. I can't take complete credit for my blistering start. Shelbi deserves a pat on the back as well. You see, starting two years ago during March Madness, Shelbi became convinced that she could control the outcome of sporting events... particularly those of basketball games. She calls it focusing. And she is dead serious about it. I'm still not exactly sure what all it entails. Sometimes she squints her eyes, sometimes she holds her arm out, sometimes she just stares at the game in question. And, with eerie regularity, the team she is rooting for often starts performing well.

Today she stopped texting for a few minutes and Gonzaga went on a 31-6 run to pull away from Akron. She had Villanova as a Final 4 team and started "focusing" when American was up by 14 in the second half. Villanova went on to win by double digits. Of course, with 4 games going on at once, it was maddening for Shelbi to focus on all of them. So she naturally keyed on those that CBS would show.. all of which happened to be games we both picked... which I was elated about. Every time CBS would switch to another game for a few minutes, Shelbi's team would start crawling back into the game against mine.

Am I skeptical? Absolutely. All I know is that in two games Shelbi has attended live (when her powers are supposedly strongest) I jokingly asked for Shelbi to focus and the following has happened.

1. At a Blazers game earlier this year Portland completely obliterated Chicago by more than 40 points in a game that wasn't even as close as the final score. It was the most lopsided NBA game I have ever seen.

2. A couple of months ago, in the 4th quarter of a high school basketball game with West Linn trailing by 12 points with 3:30 to play, I ask for Shelbi to focus. Against a decent team in a game with no shot clock, West Linn rattled off 15 unanswered points. Again, I have never seen someone blow a lead like that in a high school game and that final three minutes was littered with bizarre plays, strange bounces and 8 missed free throws..

The obvious question is: Why haven't her powers been used for the purpose of gambling yet? And that is a fair one. My only answer is that, with each game that seems to turn once Shelbi is actually paying attention, the more convinced I become that there is some Monkey's Paw witchcraft at hand and, if we attempt to use the power for monetary gain, Elliott's going to wind up in a factory accident at some point. Tonight I have UCLA over VCU. That is the game that CBS is giving us and Shelbi has VCU. My chances aren't good. But maybe I can distract her somehow.

Thursday's late morning games:

Pro: 7-0. And looking good for 8-0. So this is what happens when you don't go crazy picking upsets. Interesting.

Con: The poor people who CBS subjected to the UConn/Chattanooga or North Carolina/Radford massacres intead of getting to see Maryland/California.

Con: The announcer in the Maryland/California game referring to Jorge Gutierrez as "The Vivacious Venezuelan". Pretty sure that's not what his teammates call him.

Pro/Con: I have to admit I was amused by Barack Obama publicly filling out his bracket on ESPN and calling out North Carolina for killing his chances last year. And I'm glad to see that, despite the recession he has his priorities straight and is taking time to care about March Madness. However, I'm more than a little disturbed at the Prez's complete lack of cajones in his selections. Three No. 1 seeds in the Final Four is not the kind of change the country is looking for.

Con: Elliott losing a Sweet 16 already with the defeat of Northern Iowa. He spit out his pacifier in disgust.

Pro: The extreme loyalty shown in my bracket pool. My sister-in-law has UCLA to win, my brother-in-law has Portland St. in the Final Four and my friend the Villanova grad has his team to win. Good showing folks and thanks for dramatically improving my chances this year.

Thoughts on Thursday morning's games:

Pro: My little brother's frantic text messages 10 minutes after games started as his champion (Memphis) looked absolutely awful in the early going against Cal State Northridge. I reminded him that in our 20 years, only once had someone lost their title team in the opening round. My dad picked Michigan St. (a 3 seed) to win in 1995.

Con: Me laughing at my little brother before remembering that I have this same undisciplined, streaky shooting and pouty Memphis team that doesn't play defense in the Final Four.

Pro: The first Master's promo.

Pro: Starting the morning 3-0

Con: Shelbi telling me she loves me a little less after my celebratory dance following LSU's win over Butler.

Pro: Elliott's bracket being listed atop our 18-team pool through 3 games. He is also 3-0.

Pro: Elliott letting out a huge smile the moment the March Madness theme music began this morning.

Pro: Poor ESPN having to resort to airing the national cheerleading championships as it resigns itself to taking a beating in the ratings for two weeks.

Con: Diaper changes in the closing minutes of a close game.