bracketology: ('bra-ket-al-le-ji) n.
1. the science of determining the structure and outcomes of an elimination style tournament, especially referring to the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Tournament.
2. a common symptom of March Madness.

March is upon us and that means only a few weeks before people across the nation start filling out their NCAA March Madness brackets for their tournament pools (unless if you are an NCAA student-athlete or coach). Predicting the final outcome of all 63 games is a near impossibility, although I think it was done once (I believe he won a year's supply of Pizza Hut or something). Getting a perfect bracket can be worth millions if you enter all the online contests.

With so much money at stake, Danny and I always do a little extra prep work. In addition to reading every sports magazine and newspaper in print to find out which team has the best 3 point shooting defense, we actually fill out a bracket for the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. I think there are about 7 people in the history of North America who actually fill out this golf bracket, and we've completed it at least twice each. It was too easy to pick Tiger to win it all (which he did), so I picked Chad Campbell, the number 4 seed in the Gary Player bracket to win, but he was knocked out in round 3 by the 8 seed, Jerry Kelly.

I didn't do so well with this bracket, but it was good practice for the big one in March. I do not fill out a bracket for the NCAA Women's basketball tournament or the NIT, mainly because I will never watch women's basketball and NIT means 'Not-In-Tournament.' I'll share my winning bracket picking tips in two weeks.

There's a lot of hype for Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ movie about Jesus. That's one reason why I probably won't see it. (I am probably among a handful of Asians who did not watch better Luck Tomorrow. I refuse to give in to the hype.) I realize that a lot of churches and Christian groups are renting out theaters to watch the movie, and I think that's fine. I'm not against telling the story of Jesus. I do that for a living. I'm not against the graphic violence in the film. (I love the graphic violence warnings on tv.) From the trailers and clips I've seen, I think Gibson put a lot of work into making a fine film.

Part of what does bother me is one of the movie posters advertising it as the greatest the outreach event in 2000 years, or something to that effect. I'm sure that some of the non-Christian (and Christian) patrons who see the movie may be able to get a better idea of the pain and suffering that Jesus went through, but I personally don't think that a Hollywood movie makes a great evangelical tool. If I were not a Christian and I saw this movie, I don't think I would be any more compelled to follow Jesus. (As much as I loved watching The Return of the King, there is no way on earth I would want to live in the Shire with the Hobbits.) It's a movie and should be treated as such, by believers and non-believers alike.

I think I speak for many when I say the greatest evangelism tool isn't necessarily a big church event or group outreach. Even working in a Christian ministry, I know that our daily bible study time is not the most effective time for people to learn and understand who Jesus is. It's about the relationships a Christian develops with others that really show the relationship we have with God.

I may be a bit old for this, but I have a new favorite cartoon. It's The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. It's on Cartoon Network at 4pm, so I managed to catch part of an episode today at work (it's a youth center, so we have the tv's tuned in to cartoons the majority of the time).

Is anyone else sick of the Quiznos commercials? I mean literally sick. Seeing that mutated hamster singing does not want me want to eat a Quizno's sub. It makes me want to throw up.

I also don't like how Kentucky Fried Chicken is advertising with this 'Kitchen Fresh Chicken' slogan. I like KFC (I actually like Quizno's too), but I think calling KFC 'Kitchen Fresh Chicken' is dumb. Everyone can see the chicken sitting under the heat lamps as they load up your box or bucket.

While I'm on the topic of stupid fast food advertisments, McDonald's has this commercial where some guys are playing basketball on rollerblades. They take a break to chomp down a Big Mac, then play some more. First off, what retarded sport did they invent? They should have just got some of the Slamball guys to be endorsers. It would have been cheaper than signing Yao Ming to a deal. (note: Mad Cal does not consider Slamball or roller-basketball a true sport) Secondly, who eats a burger for a snack in between basketball (or pseuedo-basketball) games? I mean other than Robert 'Tractor' Traylor. He must have gotten the 'I'm Lovin It' and 'I Love This Game' slogans mixed up.

I do like the Taco Bell 'Clubbin' commercials. I have been to Club Chalupa twice already this week.

Our President's Day Golf Tournament at Diablo Creek Golf Course got rained out. I was planning to shoot a 58 (for all 18 holes, not just the front 9 as I usually do) and set all kinds of records, but I guess that will have to wait for another day.

Danny and I once played a round with the new Los Angeles Dodgers GM Paul DePodesta(back when he worked with the A's) at the Monarch Bay Golf Course in San Leandro. I hope he can evaluate pitchers better than he can putt.

Pitchers and catchers start reporting to spring training!!

(Warning: This post is incredibily dorky and intended only for fans of baseball cards, ebay, or poker. Mostly baseball cards and ebay.)

People have different types of hobbies. One of my hobbies is collecting baseball cards. Hobbies are supposed to be relaxing and fun, but I have managed to make an enemy while collecting cards. His name is mistman.

We battle quite often at a forum known as eBay. This mistman character also collects baseball cards, and seems to be trying to collect the same set of game-used insert cards I am after. It's like a chess match with this guy. How much do I think he is willing to pay for this one card and am I willing to pay $0.50 more? Who will get the last bid in before time runs out? Why am I spending all my expendable income on pieces of cardboard with pictures of baseball players? Will I still have enough to cover this month's rent? All these questions must be answered every time I see a card I need for my set.

He won our latest battle, but I believe my record against him is 4-2-1, including a pivotal victory for a triple game used Yankees card.

As for the poker, take a look some of the cards I already have. Kings over jacks isn't too bad. But nothing beats 5 aces.

I'm sure someday, when I'm old and broke from buying baseball cards (probably sometime in July), mistman and i will probably have a good laugh looking back at how foolish we were. Until then, thank God for DSL.

I've decided like most of the fake 'reality' shows, most awards shows suck. Seriously, what is the point of the Grammys, Emmys, or this Independent Spirit Awards that I keep seeing commercials on Bravo for? People in the music industry vote on the Grammys, peeps in the movie industry vote for the Oscars, so basically all the celebrities are telling each other how great they are.

All their acceptance speeches of these awards are lame.

-"Thank you" is actually short for "Thank you for making me rich, but please don't ask me for any of it, don't ask me for an autograph and/or picture, please don't ever come to my wedding/parties/house, in fact, stay out of my life."

-"I'd like to thank all my fans." Translation: "Thank you for making me rich, but please don't ask me for any of it, don't ask me for an autograph and/or picture, please don't ever come to my wedding/parties/house, in fact, stay out of my life."

-"I would like to thank God" can usually be better translated "I'd like to thank God for making me rich, but please don't ask me for any of it, don't ask me for an autograph and/or picture, please don't ever come to my wedding/parties/house, in fact, stay out of my life."

The few award show I do kind of enjoy are the MTV ones and the ESPY's. At least the fans actually get to vote on the winners, so it seems less stuck-up. If I ever have the chance to give an acceptance speech at one of these award shows, I would take the trophy, pull a Sharpie out of my sock, sign the award, give it back to the presenter, then pull out a cell phone that was secretly placed beneath the podium and call for pizza.

We just came back from watching Miracle. I wanted to yell and cheer like I was at a real game, but I didn't want to scare the other movie patrons. I just saw the movie and I already can't wait for the DVD. (Might have to get a bootleg version for $10. This is Richmond, you know....)

More NHL and less NBA. College basketball is okay though (especially when it's Cal beating Arizona!). It's almost March........

If anyone can find a box score for the USA hockey game against the USSR in the 1980 Olympics, let me know. I want to know how many shots on goal the Soviet team had.

Another semi-sports related note: I have a new addition to the Mad Cal Stupid-Enough-to-Make-Cal-Mad List: Federal judge Shira Scheindlin (I don't always agree with his political views, but TMQ wrote a nice argument against the Maurice Clarett ruling on his 2/6/04 blog)

Some of the Democratic candidates are doing some surprising things. After winning the South Carolina primary John Edwards was speaking to his supporters. As I was watching it live on CNN, his campaign manager suddenly tore off a piece of Edwards' suit, which exposed his belly with a navel ring.

Not to be outdone, Howard Dean promised to pierce his navel. And then his ears! And then his lip! And then his eyebrow! And then his nose! And then his nipple! YAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!

Al Sharpton's new campaign promise: to make more appearances on Saturday Night Live.

Just a few quick thoughts on the big Super Bowl:

Why is there all this hype over the Super Bowl commercials every year? 98% of the commercials I saw, in the words of Simon Cowell, absolutely sucked. If you are going to spend 2.3 millions dollars on a 30-second commercial, it better be a good one. The marketing folks should have saved up a few more bucks to sponsor a NASCAR Nextel Cup car. For about 20 million dollars, or about 5 minutes of SB commercial time, you can get your logo on the hood of a racecar that will drive almost 15,000 miles over 36 weeks. That's much more worth it to me, especially since there are about (cue Dr. Evil voice) 100 million NASCAR fans.

Some people will say that the Panthers played well, but I still think they may have been one of the weakest Super bowl teams ever. I refuse to believe that a guy named He Hate Me should win a championship ring. Rod Smart's jersey should have read 'He Tackle Me Inside the 20 on All My Kickoff Returns'.

Carolina special teams may have blocked one kick, but they were pretty bad all around. In the words of John Madden: 'How you kick a kickoff out of bounds just baffles me' (Note: a kickoff out of bounds late in the game was pivotal in Cal's Insight Bowl victory over Virginia Tech.)

Justin Timberlake should have been penalized 5 yards for illegal use of the hands.

Best play of the game: The direct snap to Kevin Faulk on New England's two point conversion where Tom Brady faked like it went over his head.

Adam Vinateri may have just kicked himself into the Football Hall of Fame. He's the clutchest kicker in the NFL. (Yes, clutchest is a word.)