Thursday very well could have been the best single day in March Madness tournament history. It was certainly the most entertaining day of games that I can remember in 20 years or religiously following the event. Three overtime games, a handful of buzzer beaters, multiple high-profile upsets. It was so good that I wasn't even upset by the mediocre showing from my bracket. Every buzzer beater went against me and I lost an Elite 8 team and yet I still can't help but feel a bit giddy after the first round of games. Here are a handful of pros and cons from Thursday.

Pro: Elliott's fantastic behavioral performance. The boy slept for the majority of our early morning car ride to the beach, then took a 2.5 hour nap in the middle of the day. The kid was pitching a perfect game until, about 30 minutes before bedtime, he fed his fruit bar to the VCR.

Con: Elliott's bracket's performance. He lost an Elite 8 team in Notre Dame in the first game of the tournament and then lost Georgetown, who he picked to make the championship game. He is now dead last in our pool.

Pro: ESPN convincing Barack Obama to fill out a bracket for the women's NCAA tournament. Hey, if only one male in the country is going to fill one out it might as well be the President. Give the guy credit. He went through the motions instead of just looking sternly at the ESPN analyst in the face and saying "I pick UConn. They've won 72 straight games. Why am I doing this?" and then walking out the door.

Con: Me riding the Big East Conference like a clydesdale this year and watching that conference go 1-3 on Thursday with the only win being Villanova's overtime win against tobacco company Robert Morris.

Con: Speaking of Villanova... How about my friend MIke's day? It featured an all-day conference in Seattle, causing him to miss the first round of games. Couple that with the fact that he forgot his phone charger and eventually went so stir crazy he had to buy a new one just to get updates. However, the updates he soon received were all about how terribly his alma mater Villanova was playing. I sent him a few early texts to needle him until early in the second half when, with Nova still losing and likely headed for one of the biggest upsets in tournament history, it just wasn't funny anymore.

Con: Timing. in the closing seconds of regulation in the Nova/Robert Morris game (which was taking place at the same time as the double-OT BYU/Florida thriller) I got a phone call from a phone number I didn't recognize. I stupidly answered it and it was a coach I needed to talk to calling me back for a story. Over the next 15 minutes I conducted either the best or the worst phone interview of my life. I say that because I can't remember any of it. On one hand it was impressive that I kept my composure and didn't scream at the TV while on the phone. On the other hand, there is a very strong chance that every player on the West Linn girls lacrosse team's name will be spelled wrong next week.

Pro: Seven straight years of March Madness at the beach and 12 straight years of skipping either classes or work to watch the first round of the tournament. And I haven't even had to play the vasectomy card yet.