Ocular Fusion

Happy St. Patrick's Day and top of the morning to all of ye, whether ye bleed green or not. I've always wanted to be more Irish than what I am since things Celtic are viewed by many to be quirky, cool and hip. I have a pretty boring Anglo surname that doesn't evoke too many images of ethnicity. But on this day I'm thankful for the McGuire and Pasley blood which runs through my veins since that lends me license to lay claim to an Irish heritage and, like a wee leprechaun, to enjoy the day's mischievous festivities along with the O'Connors, O'Sullivans and O'Rourkes.

O' darn. I don't think I have a single green item to wear to work today. Some Irishman I am...

St. Patrick's Day also doubles as my mother's birthday. We have a little tradition to mark the occasion--I call her and say, "Happy St. Patrick's Day....oh, and what other day was it again?" She knows what's coming, but always laughs anyway like a good mom should. Although it's too lengthy to go into at the moment, suffice to say that having Mom around for yet another birthday is further evidence that miracles didn't end with the close of the Apostolic Age.

Some of you know her or her story and may have heard me refer to her affectionately as my "Hard Ass Momma." If you do, then you also know that I'm speaking out of admiration and reverence for her durability, not disrespect. For those of you who don't know her, the short version is she's had so many brushes with death over the years and survived that the Grim Reaper was rumored to be considering a career change. I just hope when it all hits the fan healthwise for me, as it surely will, that I will find that she passed on a few of those "hard hiney" genes to me.

In any case, Happy St. Patrick's Day Mom...oh, and Happy Birthday too!

This year, St. Patrick's Day also marks the second batch of opening round games of March Madness. For the most part, things went as expected yesterday with a few exceptions: UW-Milwaukee over the Sooners (got that one), Montana defeating Nevada (missed it) and Texas A&M over Syracuse (missed that one too, but probably should have seen it coming). The Vols went to the wire against 15th seed Winthrop and BC had to go to 2 overtimes to finish off Pacific, thereby averting two major upsets on opening day.

My Dookies played a little sloppy at times, but took care of business against a scrappy Southern team. Shelden and J.J. were great, like All-Americans should be, and Paulus and McRoberts looked a little wide-eyed and overwhelmed at times in their first NCAA tournament games. Since Duke only won by 16 points, expect the pundits and talking heads to prattle on all day long about a stunning GW upset in the second round.

As for the Ocular Fusion Gang Pool, here are the results after Day One:

1. Mike the Eyeguy, 17 pts, 13 correct
2. Number One Son, 16 pts, 11 correct
3. Itakeupspace, 13.5 pts, 12 correct
4. House of Orange, 12 pts, 12 correct
5. Number Three Son, 10 pts, 10 correct
6. jasonbybee, 9 pts, 9 correct

I received extra points for correctly calling UW-Milwaukee over OU and Alabama over Marquette. But we still have a long way to go, so expect some shuffling in the standings by this time tomorrow as Day Two holds the promise of some very intriguing matchups and possible upsets.

That's all for today, on this St. Patrick's Day/Mom's Birthday/March Madness Day Two. If you'll excuse me now, I've got to go rummage through my closet and drawers for something green to wear.