Rick Majerus was partially right. The former college coach noted in yesterday's Tribune that Warren Buffet, Nostradamus and the Amazing Kreskin couldn't have picked George Mason to make it to the Final Four. Probably not, but at least one person could and did. My 4-year-old daughter, Caroline.
I organize a NCAA pool for my extended family and the winner receives a coveted bobblehead traveling trophy. The last couple of years, to make it a little more interesting for myself and to increase the size of the pool, I've had my wife and daughter pick teams, too. My daughter's system is pretty simple. She goes with what she knows. For example, she's been to North Carolina on vacation so she usually picks them to win at least a couple of games. Iowa also gets preferential treatment since that's where I grew up and where her grandparents live. She also picks teams because they just sound neat. Monmouth was a word she liked saying so she picked them to go the finals this year. But the real winner this year was George Mason simply because she has a friend named Mason in her pre-school.
My wife and I chuckled when she kept picking them to win. Every time I asked her to choose between George Mason and another school, she kept saying, "Mason." So, Mason, it was, and I silently wished that she had a friend named Duke in her school, too. But, of course, George Mason won the first game. And they won again and again and again.
I tried to explain the significance of this to her on Sunday when the Patriots made it to the Final 4. But she didn't seem surprised. She simply announced that she was going to pick Mason again next year. It's as sound a system as any. As a graduate of this school, I hope she'll meet someone named Northwestern in her kindergarten class next year.
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