March Madness, The Big Dance and Bracket Bewilderment are all names for the NCAA Divison I Basketball Tournament. This is a very big deal. Some 85% of the annual revenues of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) are attributable to this three-week event.

And, some 70 million brackets are filled out to commemorate the activities.

Wait a moment. What is a bracket?

Wikipedia defines a bracket as follows: “A bracket or tournament bracket is a tree design that represents the series of games played during a knockout tournament.” 

March Madness begins with 68 basketball teams.

In the First Four (an abbreviated play-in round), eight teams play for four spots in the big bracket. You lose, you’re out. That’s why it’s called a Knockout Tournament.

Next, those first four winners fit into the 64 teams in the First Round of The Big Dance. This is the true bracket (The Mighty 64!) and it looks something like four trees on their sides (two the left and two to the right) growing away from the center. Peruse the drawing below — a picture is worth a 1,000 words. Except, in the tournament, the teams are playing from the leaves, down the branches, to the trunks, and finally to the center on the ground. This is part of the wonderful confusion and complexity that is March Madness.

Remember, this is a single-elimination or knockout tournament. So, in the First Round, 64 teams are whittled to 32. Those 32 teams play in the Second Round, where they are carved into 16 teams. These 16 are referred to as the Sweet 16, and things are really getting exciting now. The Sweet 16 grapple and engage. After the hewing and hacking are done, 8 teams remain. These are the survivors, the Elite 8. Down their trees, these 8 fight until only 4 teams are left, the Final Four. Tree-to-tree, trunk-to-trunk, these 4 battle until 2 prevail, touch the solid ground, and advance to the arena of final testing. There, watched by all the teams and fans clinging to their branches above, the 2 wage mighty sport back and forth until the buzzer sounds and The #1, The National Champion, is crowned to the acclaim of all.

Now, that is sports at its best.

Before we leave this spectacle, let’s go back to the start and reflect. Before the first game of the First Four is played, some millions of fans will have guessed who is going to win each of the 67 games that comprise The Big Dance. To do this, they will fill out and submit a completed bracket. Entry is often free and there is at least $1,000,000 pledged to the individual who correctly calls the outcome of each game in advance.

This has never been done.

No one has ever predicted the outcome of all the games.

The odds of picking a perfect NCAA Tournament bracket have been calculated to be 1 in 9.2 quintillion or 1 in 2.4 trillion or 1 in 128 billion. The numbers speak for themselves. You are much more likely to be hit by lighting. Actually, you may be about a zillion or so times more likely to be hit by lightning than pick a perfect bracket. So, stay inside and don’t go outside to mail your bracket. You don’t have a chance of winning, but you have a relatively good chance of being hit by lightning.

Why?

There are just too many variables. It’s not just the number of teams and the number of games. That would simply be mathematics. It’s the players and fans, the arenas and banners, the mascots and cheerleaders, the heating and cooling, the popcorn and hot dogs, the sodas and slurpees — it’s all the truly amazing and completely unpredictable things involved in just one game. And, this isn’t one game, it’s 67 games played over a three-week period at varying locations spread across the country. All of this makes The Tournament a mad and bewildering dance of frenetic non-stop activity that defies all odds and exceeds all expectations.

It takes my breath away and it should.

It is far too much fun to waste filling out future slots on a static bracket.

Instead, watch the games themselves and add the winners after the contests are completed.

That way you will have a perfect bracket, perhaps a little too late to qualify for the $1,000,000, but who cares — being amused and mesmerized by the real thing is much better than musing the impenetrable.

Take a seat in the stands or lounge there on the couch.

Put away your pen and enjoy the games.

The Dance is about to begin.

I think it already has.

Grandpa Jim

On April 10, 1912, when she left Southhampton, England on her maiden voyage to New York, she was the largest ship afloat. The wealthiest people in the world and the poorest were aboard. Some 2,224 souls walked her decks, leaned over the railings, and marveled at her speed and beauty. She was the Titanic.

In the rain on April 18, 2012 at 9:30 pm, the RMS Carpathia docked at New York’s Pier 54. Watched by over 40,000, the surviving 710 passengers and crew walked down the gangplank and reached their intended destination. The rest never would. The cold waters of the North Atlantic claimed their lives as it did the broken parts of the ship thought unsinkable.

The RMS Titanic hit the iceberg at 11:40 pm on April 14, 2012. At 2:20 am on April 15, 2012, two hours and 40 minutes later, she was gone. No one knows for sure what happened before, during and following those two hours.

James Cameron filmed what he saw, wrote and drew before, during and after those two hours.

The movie “Titanic” was released in the US on December 19, 1997 and won eleven (11) Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Cameron. It was the first film to reach the billion dollar mark. There is great historical and factual detail in the film. The Titanic was masterfully reconstructed and tragically lost. It looks and feels like the real thing, even though it is not. The story of the two young lovers is magically created and tragically ended. It looks and feels like it is real, though of course it cannot be. This is Hollywood. For both the ship and her lovers, there is much that is real and much that is not, but such a showing of both that we would never know or we would know somehow more than both show and life. This is the movies at their best.

And, the music. Such music.

Our audience was captivated, mesmerized, fantasized, hurt, saddened and entertained.

In 175 words, here is what they said, saw and felt of the 70th show to win the Oscar for Best Picture:

For a movie about one of the most famous sinkings of all time, “Titanic” is remarkable for being more than a ship’s tale; one viewer made the point well: “Romance or disaster, you make the call”; this is director, producer and film editor James Cameron’s masterpiece (he won Oscars in all three categories), and he wrote the story and sketched the picture that draws it all together; fascinatingly, the music was perhaps the most liked single item — this is a marvelous fantasy set to a gorgeous score with two pretty young actors (Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet); yes, it is a disaster but the romance sees past the expected to the not-so-expected; the cleverness of the presentation and the winsomeness of the action carry the audience through the horrific near-term to that last surprising drop into the sea; the viewers depart quite pleasantly entertained, which is perhaps the true role of Hollywood; for that, the film was awarded a 9.50 average rating, placing the show high at #6 of the first 70 Best Pictures.

The single word for the movie was: Unexpected. To be that when you are filming one of the most expected events in history is to say much indeed and to truly reflect beyond film to life itself.

Thank you for reading and enjoy the music before you depart.

Grandpa Jim

I’d forgotten the day but my friend remembered my search for the Best Chicken Fried Steak in Dallas and sent me the advertisement: “Norma’s Celebrates Texas Independence Day (March 2nd) With Home-Cooked Democracy.” And down the menu was listed the house specialty of the day:”REMEMBER THE ALAMO — A Norma’s Cafe Classic: Chicken Fried Steak smothered in cream gravy and served with 3 sides.”

It was then I did remember.

The Lone Star State may be 183 years old today, but today isn’t the day I remember or the one most Texans remember. The day we remember is March 6, 1836, and we remember that day with a sad smile and a raised hand that wipes away a tear.

* * *

The most popular tourist site in Texas is an old Spanish mission in San Antonio. It was never much to look at, and it’s not much of a site today: a sprawling complex with a few buildings and a chapel. The chapel has been restored, and the grounds are meticulously maintained, but the place is still not much to look at.

On March 6, 1836, 189 Texans died there.

In the early morning hours of that day, President General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna of the centralist government of Mexico ordered 1800 of his men to assault the Alamo Mission. Above his command station, a blood-red flag flew. The defenders had been declared “pirates.” As such, no quarter could be given. It would be a fight to the death.

Because some of the Alamo defenders were related to soldiers under his command, Santa Anna did excuse those relatives in the Mexican forces from joining in the attack. It was a small mercy.

The remaining Mexican soldiers and officers followed their orders. They attacked the mission from one side and were repulsed. Another attack was launched from the other side and was thrown back. Finally, a third attack of the combined forces was made. Overwhelming the defenders with their greater numbers, the Mexican soldiers breached the outlying walls. Uniformed attackers poured into the Mission compound, firing their rifles and stabbing with their bayonets.

Some weeks earlier, the Commanding Officer of the defenders, William B. Travis, had couriered an urgent message “To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World.” Perhaps the most famous part of that letter is this: “I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his honor & that of his country. VICTORY OR DEATH.”

Recognizing that attack was imminent and his forces could not prevail, on March 5th Colonel Travis gathered the defenders and explained their circumstances. The position was hopeless. The Colonel gave each the chance to escape or stay. At that time, Travis did not know that three days earlier, on March 2nd, the delegates to the Texas Convention in Washington on the Brazos had voted and declared independence from Mexico. The commander and the volunteers facing him were fighting for a new country, the Republic of Texas. Although they did not know Texas was a sovereign nation, those men knew who they were. They were Texans. The vast majority were from other states and other countries. Almost all the native-born Texans were of Mexican descent. Whatever their origins, they were one and all Texans. They were fighting for their homes, their families and freedom. Each made his own decision. They stayed.

There is little glory in the aftermath of battle. The bodies are collected and buried . . . or burned. Many fell that chilly winter day in the new State of Texas. All the defenders lay on the cold ground. They were joined by many young Mexican soldiers who knew little of why they had fought. Brave men died that day – on both sides.

On April 21st, at the Battle of San Jacinto near present-day Houston, General Sam Houston and his army took General Santa Anna and his army by surprise and defeated the invaders in 18 short minutes. No red flag flew that day. When the captured General presented himself before Sam Houston, Santa Anna asked that the Texans “be generous to the vanquished.” General Houston was. The captured General and his troops were allowed to return to their homes. In granting mercy, Houston did reply to the Mexican Commander, “You should have remembered that at the Alamo.”

“Remember the Alamo” is a cry that echoes still over the old Spanish mission in San Antonio. The buildings themselves may not be much to look at, even with the tender care they receive, but they do not go unnoticed. The blood of brave men stained the soil here. The visitors remember and they come. They come because men did not leave that mission. They stayed, they fought, and they died for what they believed.

Remember the Alamo.

* * *

I will still go out for that chicken fried steak tonight. When I do, I’ll stand a bit taller and smile more kindly to most everyone, because I do remember that men stayed at their posts and gave their lives that Texas would live today.

I would not forget that.

Thank you,

Grandpa Jim