Opinion: Busted brackets could be bad for your health

One of my friends recently asked me when was the last time I won an NCAA Tournament bracket pool. Sadly, I couldn’t remember.

I do three or four pools each year and it’s been at least five years since I can remember even finishing near the top of the standings.

Which got me thinking, maybe Chris Borland is on to something.

The 49ers linebacker retired Monday night after playing just one season in the NFL because of the concern of long-term effects from repetitive head trauma.

Maybe it’s time for me to pull a Borland and put down my pen and walk away from filling out brackets while I still can.

No more pounding my head on the wall when my 12-5 upset doesn’t come through. My heart rate won’t elevate when one of my Final Four picks is trailing at halftime in the first round. My blood pressure won’t soar when a school I never heard of knocks off my pick to win it all.

Retiring from busted brackets doesn’t sound so bad.

Actually, it’s sounds awful.

These next four days are four of my favorite days of the year as March Madness kicks into full swing with tournament games all day.

That’s why I put together our annual Marci Stenberg NCAA Bracket Challenge, named after our late longtime Sun-Star photographer, who loved filling out a bracket each year despite not watching any college basketball during the season.

This is our 13th year doing the pool. Once again, we’ve asked our area basketball coaches to fill out their NCAA men’s basketball brackets to compete with current and former Sun-Star staff reporters and other media members. We’ll update the standings after each round in the Sun-Star.

There is no money on the line (thankfully). Just bragging rights and believe me, these coaches love to brag. Nobody more than last year’s winner, Danny Crosby.

While I’ve gone 12 years with never winning this pool, Crosby has been one of the most successful participants. The Los Banos girls coach tied former Los Banos boys coach Joseph Barcellos for the most wins in this pool’s history with three.

Crosby says he doesn’t really have a formula. He just feels his way through the bracket.

“I just look at the matchups,” Crosby said. “Somewhere around the round of 32, it’s about the coaches. I like (Rick) Pitino, but I don’t have Louisville going too far this year. I like the Arizona coach (Sean Miller). I like (John) Calipari, too, but I don’t see his team (Kentucky) winning it all. I don’t see a team going 40-0.”

Frankly, I was shocked to see the first few brackets turned in by coaches didn’t have Kentucky winning it all. However, I still feel by the time all the brackets are turned in, the undefeated Wildcats will be the overwhelming choice to cut down the nets in the end.

In our pool, we don’t count the play-in games, so coaches have until the start of games Thursday morning to submit their brackets.

For what it’s worth, my Final Four are Kentucky, Arizona, Virginia and Iowa State, with Kentucky winning it all.

So if history tells us anything, stay away from those teams if you’re looking to win your pool.

This story was originally published March 17, 2015 at 7:24 PM with the headline "Opinion: Busted brackets could be bad for your health."