For The Record- 22. March. 2025

The chances smaller, the odds are slimmer

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I’ve been known to search the house for my glasses only to realize I’m wearing them. I couldn’t tell you what I had for lunch yesterday. But I remember exactly where I was standing in 1985 when I learned that Villanova upset Georgetown to take the NCAA men’s basketball title.

I was at Civic Stadium for a Portland Breakers game. Turns out we got our ass handed to us by a San Antonio Gunslingers team whose wheels were coming off. I had to look that up.

Know what I’ll never forget? The deafening roar of the crowd as it was announced.

As I type this, We are in the throes of March Madness. Not “mad king” shit, but the good kind- the NCAA basketball tournament kind.

Many of us fill out brackets even in a small workplace like mine. There is a lot of interest and big talk. Our Manager even does one (allegedly, of course). Similar scenarios play out nationwide. Maybe a few of you are in pools, too?

Heck, we even had a president who used to fill one out and got tan suit levels of outrage in return…but it also showed he was, well, normal (Presidents! They’re just like us!). Does Obama still do these?

Update: He does indeed.

Does anyone in the current administration? I doubt it; most seem to have an allergic reaction to fun. It's also hard to be a grievance merchant when you’re cheering from the stands. Whatever.

We love the bracket. The heroes. The villains. The Cinderellas. The quirky human interest stories (take a bow, Sister Jean!). We cringe in unison at injuries. Speaking of which, has anyone checked on Kevin Ware lately?

Who will be this year's Cinderella? Beats me, but I hope I have ‘em making a deep run. It’s all tradition. It’s appointment viewing. The March Madness roller coaster is one we all ride on.

Speaking of ‘Nova, Rollie Massimino was a perfect name for a coach. Of course, he took them to the promised land! How could he not have?! It’s colorful characters. Colloquialisms. It’s a collective experience.

It’s also among the last bastions of “good” tribal identity. Walk into the party and announce some outre political belief. See where that gets you. Walk into the office wearing the jersey of your school or hometown? Totally copacetic. Heck, you might even get away with wearing an Oregon State shirt. I’m probably legally required to advise you to check with HR first on that last one, but still…

If all this sounds romantic — that’s because it is, and unapologetically so

I always do a couple of brackets. One is purely vibes-based. In this scenario, the Ducks always win. You gotta root for your people, right? The other is usually more measured, and I take some time to do more thorough research (translation: check with my kids). Two of my superpowers are pretzel logic and rationalization, so the Ducks often take it all in these simulations, too.

If you are a Houston fan, I will (quietly) cheer with you solely because it's the alma mater of the greatest player of all time. None of this has to make sense, and it’s more fun when it doesn’t. March Madness is no place for logic, common sense, or stats.

Speaking of my kids, they play too; the family that gambles together stays together.

My point here is that millions of us participate in this. It’s one of the last-standing examples of shared experience. We don’t do that a lot in 2025. We spent so long trusting people who told us that removing friction was a good thing that we developed an allergic reaction to it. All that got us was atomized content diets, sore thumbs from scrolling, and out-of-whack expectations.

Why is this page taking longer than two seconds to load?

Whaddya mean I have to wait a full week for the next White Lotus Episode?

(Sidebar: As this is still ostensibly a music newsletter, how come no one told me Mook was played by Lisa from Blackpink?

I guess that’s what I get for trying to be less terminally online. It was bad enough when there were only 57 channels that had nothing on. Now there’s 500+, and worse... except in March when EJ in Atlanta, Charles Barkley, and the rest of the crew roll the party straight to your TV set.

You want me to fill out a piece of paper? Like with a pen/pencil?!

Yes, yes I do. The friction’s half the fun. There’s no buttons, no GUI, just graphite—bonus point for doing it ink in one run. Sure, you can fill one out online, and if you really want, you can even outsource the work to AI. You can enter huge pools with a bunch of strangers and win huge prizes (we love us some cash). But there’s something much more rewarding about filling it out at the breakroom table and being able to good-naturedly rib Jan from Accounting when your team beats hers at the buzzer.

Turning your back on social media, returning to Web 1.0, filling out brackets, filling the stands—this is half the fun. This is the way.

Go Ducks!

As always, thanks for being here.

Kevin—

Now for some weekend reads: