The bracket madness is here! A second Christmas for college basketball fans. I’ve decided to go with the running diary format ala Bill Simmons (and many others) for the first two days of the tournament. With so many games going on at once it’s pretty hard to make critical observations. I’m watching the games with some of my college friends, so if I say we, or mention someone’s name, that’s who I’m talking about.

I’m gonna break these up into day caps and night caps, so we will have two parts posted by the end of the day. By the way, you can follow me on Twitter @pplcallmeblue for live thoughts and discussion.

I’ll also update everyone on the Sports Spectrum bracket challenge. Enjoy the games!

12:00 – I’m still trying to get my act together to head over to my buddy’s house to watch the games.

12:15 – The games start, and I still haven’t left yet. I’ll be late to my own funeral.

12:20 – Packing up my TV so we can watch multiple games at once.

12:28 – Looking for sunglasses… pick up 3D glasses… realize the world is already in 3D… find sunglasses.

12:30 – I finally leave my house.

12:50 – Get to my buddy Michael’s house to see Murray State and Colorado State tied at 21.

12:51 – Now begins the complicated process of figuring out how to split the Direct TV signal and set up a second television.

1:25 – Success! That took way too long.

1:26 – We figure out that the remotes are all synched to each other, which will make changing channels a little difficult.

1:40 – Joe brings up the fact that Murray State head coach Steve Prohm could pass as Mark Cuban’s brother.

2:00 – Murray State looks to be in control against Colorado State.

2:14 – Mario Williams signs with Buffalo, which leads the conversation to wondering who played quarterback at Michigan before Tom Brady….

2:15 – Brian Greise

2:16 – We wonder how many championships Michigan would have won if he played all four seasons as the starter.

2:30 – Remote issues. Trying to get the Davidson game on the big screen to see the finish  of the first half, and both cable boxes are going haywire.

2:42 – Three minutes left to play and it’s a 3-point game in Kansas State vs. Southern Miss. Hoping to see a dramatic finish.

2:44 – Angel Rodriguez, pretty good name.

2:48 – Wisconsin’s Ryan Evans has a flat top that reaches the rim.

2:49  – Which leads to our discussion of white guys who rocked flat tops. Best flat top from a white guy, Chris Mullin or Vanilla Ice?

2:58 – We just realized that there is about to be four games on at once. We only have two TVs. This will be madness trying to keep up with all of them.

3:04 – It’s 16-5 Marquette over BYU with five minutes gone in the first. BYU has to be tired from their 25-point comeback Tuesday night. Would be shocked if they could keep up with Marquette.

3:10 – It looks like we will be seeing a lot of Conan commercials the next three weeks. It’s October all over again.

3:18 – Since many of these games are not close, we get talking about dunking, and the lack of our ability to do it. I could dunk for a few months during my senior year of high school, haven’t been able to since. But that one day when I finally did dunk on a 10-foot goal…it was a heavenly feeling.

3:21 – The games have been so exciting, Daniel has fallen asleep.

3:47 – UNC Asheville has a 15-13 lead against Syracuse with 10 minutes left in the first half. Will the Bulldogs play with with them all the way?

3:51 – For some reason we are getting real excited about Asheville making a four-point play with a lot of time left in the game. I guess it’s always the hope of the miraculous upset.

3:58 – And my first pick of Davidson beating Louisville is gonna be wrong. That’s why you never pick with who you want to win.

4:02 – Speaking of Louisville, we have a story coming up in our Spring issue about Cardinals point guard Peyton Siva.

4:06 – Asheville with a six point lead. This could be epic!

4:40 – During halftime, I lost in a game of P.I.G. outside. It was bad. Four guys shooting a lot of bricks.

5:05 – I’m trying to think of how you could compare this potential upset to… maybe App St. beating Michigan in football. The fact that no 16 seed has ever won makes it hard to compare to anything.

5:19 Dickey is just 1-12 for Asheville, simply brutal when you are supposed to be the best player on the team.

5:21 – Syracuse’s Southerland may have just hit the dagger. Ashville down eight now with 2:32 left to play.

5:27 – Dickey blows a point-blank layup, but gets smacked in the face. Should have been a foul.

5:28 – Elmore uses the word “scrum.” Definition: a place or situation of confusion and racket; hubbub.

5:29 – Definition of hubbub: a loud, confused noise, as of many voices: There was quite a hubbub in the auditorium after the announcement.

5:31 – Ref just called a lane violation after Jardine misses and Asheville rebounds. Jardine makes the next two free throws.

5:40 – Asheville has been robbed by this awful officiating crew. They’ve blown two calls and cost them two points and two possessions. I don’t know if they would have won with the calls being correct, but it made it impossible to win with them.

5:52 – My favorite chant from college: “I’m blind, I’m deaf, I wanna be a ref.”

6:17 – Since I picked Long Beach to advance to the Sweet 16, I find myself pulling for them. Especially since I’m a Charlotte 49ers fan, and we’ve been experiencing March Sadness since 2005, when we blew a 18 point first half lead to NC State in the first round.

6:33 – Long Beach State has just not made enough big shots to win this one. New Mexico will move on to play Louisville. That will be a good one.

6:36 – Barely paid any attention to the Harvard-Vanderbilt game.

6:51 – Harvard is channeling Western Kentucky here. They’ve worked it down to six with 1:24 left.

6:55 – Western Kentucky already down 10-0 to Kentucky. No chance in that one.

7:00 – Looking like Vandy will seal this one up. This will end part one of the running diary. Comeback around midnight or so for the nightcap.