As you know, I’m a sports nut, a complete fanatic. What I don’t know about sports would fit on the head of a pin.

Right. Anyway, I’m often invited to participate in athletic event outcome-predicting competitions as the control group. In other words, I toss my hat in the ring and make predictions that end up relatively equivalent to those of a chimp on too much Mountain Dew. This is to prove to the other participants that they actually know something about sports, at least if their predictions are actually better than mine!

This is a valuable service I enjoy providing. Sometimes I think the other participants are pretty embarrassed about the occasional short distance between their picks and mine.

Right now I’m in a something-or-other “bracket” having to do with basketball. You’re given a ton of basketball teams you’ve never heard of and asked to pick who’s going to beat who in several levels of somefer tournament, or “bracket.” It’s extremely complex and convoluted.

I rely on my usually uncannily surprising instinct to make my “picks.” So far it looks like I’ve let myself down a little bit, but I do have fairly close company! So it’s not all bad. I enjoy helping others try to overcome their obsessions with athletics.