6:30 PM

The Game ended almost as soon as it began - walking into a friends house for dinner, the first thing I heard was the TV say, "Welcome back to Dayton!"  Before I caught anything else, I rushed out of the room, put my fingers in my ear and started screaming "Change the channel!  Change the channel!  Not listening - lalalalala!"

The channel changed, and the Game lived on for the first night.  Needless to say, my wife was thrilled that an NCAA Tournament game was on but I chose to participate in a long conversation with our friends about babies.   

9:30 PM

The Game is all about keeping busy, and last night flew by without so much as a fleeting thought to what was happening in Dayton.  I don't even know who was playing, nor do I really care.  But its strange - your mind still wonders what the score is.  The little nagging, annoying feeling of missing out on something will gnaw at your brain if you let it. 

I did discover one secret weapon to combat the itch to watch March Madness on television - the DIY Network.  As a mostly pre-reorded home improvement channel, there is very little chance that they will divulge the tournament results.  It was only later around 10 p.m. when they announced that this weekend will be "Mulch Madness" when I realized that the Game will end at a time not of my choosing.  Something is going to get through the filter and reach my unprepared brain.  Its only a matter of when it happens.