Final Four selections

Ever since Quinn Buckner asked President Bill Clinton in 1995 if he (the POTUS!!) had filled out his NCAA Div. I men's basketball tournament brackets, I've always found a good mix of sports and politics in this special time of year.

Think about it.

The NCAA tournament, otherwise known as March Madness, coincides with Holy Week, Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, the vernal equinox, baseball's spring training and the end of the winter of our discontent.

That's two trifectas and a daily double.

Last year at this time, in the annual HCP office pool for all serious bracketologists, I lost my obligatory $5 by trying to select teams based on my superior knowledge of NCAA basketball.

That didn't work.

When one of my less-knowledgeable co-workers (who shall remain nameless) finished well ahead of me, I realized that my selection method was in need of some restructuring. In fact, it needed a complete overhaul.

And then I read where President Obama's NCAA tournament brackets were among the most accurate in the country. (Doesn't he have anything better to do as the most powerful man in the free world?)

One of the now-defunct companies I used to work with used to hold an annual golf outing. I played in it one time at the Snow Hill Country Club. Every time I hit a bad shot on that particular day – which was often – the company president, Mark Policinski, told me I was working too hard. (The implication being that I wasn't screwing around playing golf on company time.)

The same thought process ought to apply to Obama and his NCAA brackets. If he knows so much about college basketball, there are only two reasonable explanations: Either he's not working very hard or someone else filled out his bracket.

In 1995, when former Indiana Hoosier and Boston Celtic point guard Quinn Buckner was on network television and asked then-President Bill Clinton if he had "filled out his brackets," Clinton looked like he had no clue what Buckner was talking about.

I remember thinking that was a good thing.

We do not need presidents who can pick top seeds like Louisville or Gonzaga in a basketball pool. We need presidents who are presidential, with more than a passing knowledge of national defense, world economies and international affairs. Once upon a time, we had such men in the Oval office. Today, sadly, we do not.

Given my past ineptitude in NCAA bracketology, I've employed a new strategy this year. (And, just for the record, I like filling out these brackets about as much as liberal unfunnyman Bill Maher likes paying his taxes.)

Instead of selecting teams based on their overall record or on my personal favorite university (Notre Dame), I have allowed politics to enter into my 2013 Final Four selections for the first time.

Gubernatorial politics, to be precise.

Without further ado, I give you my Final Four for the NCAA men's tournament:

• From the Midwest Region, we have Duke University, college of Hillsboro High School graduate Holly Hilliard and in the home state of North Carolina Gov. Patrick McCrory.

Seriously, on St. Patrick's Day, who else would I pick but a governor named Pat McC-Rory?

• From the South Region, we have Michigan. Like Woody Hayes, I'm usually not a fan of the team from that state up north.

But I do admire Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder. A person should have the right to work, after all. And Gov. Snyder understands that.

• From the West Region (isn't Ohio State in the West?), we have the great state of Wisconsin.

The leftists in the Badger State tried to recall Gov. Scott Walker, but the more intelligent voters weren't having any of it. On Wisconsin! Indeed. (With no apologies to Ohio Gov. John Kasich.)

• From the East Region, we have the Indiana Hoosiers.

Not only was "Hoosiers" one of the best movies about basketball, this year's team includes one of my favorite college coaches in Tom Crean and my favorite 2012-13 player in Victor Oladipo.

I like Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, too. Ohio's governor could learn a thing or two from him.

Go Hoosiers. (With apologies to Coach Mike Brey and Notre Dame).

Rory Ryan is publisher of The Highland County Press.