A quick one today because I just came back from a mini-vacation in Chicago, which astonishingly and sadly has a much better sports bar selection than New York. It’s actually a better place to watch March Madness.

And watch I did, as a parade of top seeds with elite pedigrees strolled into the Elite Eight. I know this is kind of a regression to the mean after No. 8 seed Baylor and No. 11 seed VCU made the Final Four last year, but wow that’s a lot of chalk! Not since 2007, when the Elite Eight featured four No. 1s, three No. 2s and a No. 3 seed, have we seen so many top teams do well. Every one of the final octet was ranked in the top 10 at some point during the regular season.

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My college guidance counselor had a derisive saying for people who were familiar with many subject areas but had no one area of expertise: Jack of all trades, master of none. I suffer from a similar problem when it comes to sports — I know a lot about almost every relevant global sport without focusing on any one game. For once, I’d like to play up that fact. So every Monday, I’ll break down a sporting event from the past week that won’t lead SportsCenter or make the Sports Illustrated cover but is fascinating nonetheless. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll read about a sport or athlete too “unsexy” for most people to write about at length. Enjoy.

Even without the Wildcats, I would never pass up a chance to bracketologize (get your bracket here).

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My college guidance counselor had a derisive saying for people who were familiar with many subject areas but had no one area of expertise: Jack of all trades, master of none. I suffer from a similar problem when it comes to sports — I know a lot about almost every relevant global sport without focusing on any one game. For once, I’d like to play up that fact. So every Monday, I’ll break down a sporting event from the past week that won’t lead SportsCenter or make the Sports Illustrated cover but is fascinating nonetheless. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll read about a sport or athlete too “unsexy” for most people to write about at length. Enjoy.

The first and only time I was inside Assembly Hall, I couldn’t wait to leave.

OK, that’s not fair. The only pilgrimage I ever made to the home of Indiana basketball was a fantastic experience, but it was overshadowed by an ever bigger sporting event. I was a junior in college at the time and an assistant sports editor for the Northwestern school paper. A group of us went down to cover the men’s basketball game: NU @ Indiana, 2PM Sunday. Super Bowl Sunday, with my beloved Giants set to face the 18-0 Patriots a couple of hours later.

So I had every reason to be distracted during the game, to be mentally back at Northwestern in front of the TV cheering on Big Blue. But then I walked over to our press seats…and I looked up at the championship banners above us…and the Hoosiers came out in their classic candy-cane colored warmups…and I was hooked.

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