When I'm 64

Big Friends Draft '07 from the bottom right moving clockwise:
Augie, Dragon, myself, O, Ralphie, Jerk, Kov, Stim.
Not shown: Nottke on the phone, Mead live via video conference

As mentioned earlier tonight was my NCAA Big Friends Weekend Draft. While there are well more than 8 guys who attend this event, there are 8 of us who are in the Big Friends Pool. Our draft works like this, we pick numbers out of a hat, draft in that order, then re pick our draft numbers in reverse order of the previous round. A few years back we started going 5 bucks a guy and the money goes to the guy whose draft spots add up to the highest total. Thus, begins the gambling for the week.

I started off with the worst case scenario. Since I ended up with the "Can of Corn" last year, (more on this tomorrow), I got to pull the first chip, and I got 8. With that last first round pick I took #3 Oregon. Obviously the #1's were gone, as were all of the #2's with the exception of Wisconsin, and since the Badgers starting center gave himself a third elbow a two weeks ago, their ranking was based on what they had done prior.

I somehow ended up with three of the four #3 seeds. Here are my picks by round and position.

8-Oregon
4-Pitt
1-Washington St
4-Butler
7-Gonzaga
1-Winthrop
4-Penn
5-Jackson St

Ohio State went 3rd over all to Mark Nottke. Mark actually stole this team from Augie. Nottke lives in Tallmadge so he calls in, except he called an hour late, after we had waited we asked Augie to take his place. He got the third pick, took the Buckeyes, then Nottke called and everyone decided to let him back in and take Ohio State, everyone but me that is. He whined that we changed the time on him. NO! the selection show is on at 6:00 we draft at 7:00, or at least attempt to, every year.

Jay, UNLV went with the 2nd pick in the 4th round (26 overall). Stim took the Runnin' Rebels beforeI had a chance.

Here is a special message about a Bracket Pool run by Roni Balogna: From his e-mail:
For those veterans out there, $5 gets you a bracket ($10 gets you 2, $15 gets you 3, well, you get the picture). It is a winner take all, progressive points (correct 1st round picks net you 1 pt apiece, 2nd rounders 2 pts, 3rd round 4 pts, etc) deal.
And never feel out of the loop or in the dark, as I bring you daily updates on standings, irrelevant stats of previous years, and, when the field starts to fall, updates on all your favorite bracket pickers.
Once the field is set, I will send an invite email to this list, just log into CBSsportsline.com (or sign up for a free account!!!!!!!), pick your teams with the user-friendly brackets, crack open a cold one, and sit back!!! If you have friends, relatives, or people you don't like who want to play, just send me their emails. We even have goofy poll questions, to prove that I care about you, the public.

If you are interested either post your email address or send it to me at bigspunciestyle@yahoo.com and I will forward it to the proper authorities.