Why I Should Have Let My Four-Year-Old Pick My NCAA Tournament Bracket

It’s NCAA basketball tournament time and Richmond is all abuzz because both of our universities’ men’s basketball teams, Virginia Commonwealth University (my alma mater) and University of Richmond, have reached the Sweet 16. If both teams win their next game, they will face each other for a spot in the Final Four. But I can’t get into the excitement of the Sweet 16 and the fact that two hometown teams in mid-major conferences have made it this far into the tournament. Why? Because my bracket sucks.

I’m not an insider like Jay Bilas or Doug Gottlieb, so I struggled a bit filling out my bracket. Admittedly, I didn’t really pay close attention to men’s college basketball this season and didn’t even follow my beloved Duke Blue Devils that closely. I don’t think I watched a full game all season. However, the day before brackets were due, I did frantically spend some time checking out the rankings, past schedules, players, etc. to select the teams I thought would win each game. What I failed to do was ask my four-year-old daughter. Apparently that’s where I went wrong.

I first came to this realization earlier this week when my former boss called to tell me that she, her husband, and her five-year-old daughter all entered their brackets on ESPN.com. Her daughter picked teams on the most random criteria – animal mascots she liked, places she’s been, etc. After last weekend’s games, her husband received an email from ESPN informing them that their daughter’s bracket was in the top 2800 out of almost 6 million entries. Really? I’m ranked 152,180 in the Mike and Mike group and 5,034,837 overall.

Then I heard today that Matt Hasselbeck’s five-year-old son also submitted a bracket to ESPN and he’s ranked 103. He made his picks based on mascot. WTH?! Clearly there’s something to this kids picking winners thing.

Another case in point. We have a family football pool where each member of our immediate family picks three teams – your favorite team (GO 49ers!), an up and coming team (must have had below a .500 record the previous season), and another team of your choice (usually a strong team you think is going to be a winner). My husband let our then three-year-old pick his third team. She picked the Green Bay Packers. And they won the Superbowl.

Lesson learned. From now on I will let my four-year-old make all of my sports picks. And I will take all of the credit.