"Missi ...Whatever"

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The 13 things I love about my 7-year-old son's 2008 March Madness tournament bracket:

1.) On its face, it's a gutsy bracket with serious darkhorses but manages by the Final Four to maintain sanity with three #1 seeds along with one #2 seed (important because the tournament never works out to have all #1 seeds in the Final Four).

2.) "Oklahomea."

3.) Spelling all of the names of the schools out, but saying screw it on "Mississippi St." and just making sure there's a "St." and an "m" and an "s" and a "p."

4.) The random use of cursive for Kansas by the time they reach the Elite Eight.

5.) The ability to set aside emotions and go ahead and pick Clemson to win that game that we expect them to win (even though we don't want them to).

6.) Then to abruptly kick them out of the tournament when they meet an SEC team.

7.) The willingness jettison USC when they meet Kansas -- even though he thinks the USC he's axing from the tournament is his own beloved Gamecocks.

8.) "Miami (Fla)." Hey, he's been to Miami, and he knows it's in Florida, but that's what it says, man -- even if he has no idea why there would be a Miami anywhere else, let alone Ohio.

9.) Only one win for the weak Big Ten conference.

11.) Admitting to having no idea who Drake is and no idea how good they might or might not be, but still picking them over San Diego, even though a father would expect a kid his age would pick a team based on what his favorite NFL team is. He knows LaDainian Tomlinson isn't on scholarship.

12.) "Samford."

13.) UMBC to the Sweet 16. Who is that? I don't know. And I'm the adult.