This is it! Tournament Time Baby!

source

---

Can you believe it? It is actually happening! After a year without a tournament, we are finally on the brink of March Madness. Sure, if you count the play-in games that happened last night we have already started, but today is when we really get into the meat of the bracket.

Today is the day that the field of 64 starts to get weeded out. Favorites may fall, Cinderellas may emerge, and most definitely brackets will be busted.

Can you feel the excitement?

This is going to be epic!

I once read a study that indicated this time of year is the worst for productivity in the US. Many companies chase their tail blocking as much access as possible to streaming services in hopes they can rescue some modicum of productivity. People will call in sick or just not show up, bars will be filled to 50% capacity with fans, and the big dance will happen!

So let's talk about those play in games. My beloved MSU is out. They went to overtime, but they are still out. I think my brother in law said it best when he posted on Facebook this morning that he is just glad it is over. It was an absolutely ridiculous year for them. I can't even blame it entirely on Covid, they were just off most of the season. When they were "on", they were great, but unfortunately, those occurrences were few and far between.

Now, all that is left to do is sit back, enjoy the tournament, and cheer for whoever is playing against Michigan and Ohio State. I don't really care who wins this year as long as it isn't one of those two.

The Texas Southern versus Mount St. Mary's sixteen seed play-in game was nothing special. An eight point victory for Texas Southern, let's move on to the more exciting stuff.

I was watching the Drake, Wichita State game. I think a lot of people were expecting the Shockers to walk away with this. In fact they were for the better part of the game. I watched that Drake team in their conference tournament final and I knew they were nothing to trifle with, so seeing this final score doesn't surprise me at all. Oh sorry, I forgot to mention, the score was Drake 53, Wichita State 52. What a game.

The other killer game of the night was Appalachian State falling to Norfolk State 53 to 54 in another sixteen seed play-in game. I honestly don't know too much about either of these teams and I really don't expect them to make it too far since their next opponent is going to be Gonzaga.

Norfolk State maybe a decent team, but I have a feeling the glass slipper is going to be well out of their reach with this one.

So here we are, all the play-ins are done. This is where things get real.

Are you ready?

12:15 PM EST today the action starts! Are you going to be watching? Who are you cheering for?

Ten seed Virginia Tech versus seven seed Florida to open the tournament. It should be a heck of a game!

Head over to Yahoo sports or your favorite sports site for a full schedule of all the games that are happening today.

May your wings be hot, your beer cold, and your brackets unbusted!