Happy St. Patrick's Day, readers. And, Merry March Madness.
Back when I worked as a full-fledged suit at a retail shop, I worried a lot about small talk. CMOs want to talk about the big weekend game; CEOs want to predict the winner of the next one.
Me? I don't have an ounce of sports fan in me. I'm lucky if I know for sure what sports season it is, let alone what playoff is approaching and who is expected to dominate it. I keep the local sports teams calendars on my wall as little more than a traffic advisory.
When you work in a Big Ten town, this is not an ideal situation. So, I was always looking for the headline, the soundbite, anything to get the sports small talk rolling so smoothly that I could happily just nod my agreement.
(As one of the resident wonks at my current shop clients expect me to be bookish and pop culture averse :) No one cares that I don't wear red (scarlet) on Fridays or quote scores over lunch.)
Still, I love the soundbites. The little nuggets that incite fans to passion.
Neil - the cool partner at that retail shop - used to give me a few good ones every now and again.
His universal:
What about Duke?
Apparently Coach K and his team are always somewhat provocative. It's a safe starting point if you don't know the alliances of the people in the room.
I've used that one a lot. It actually works.
So, I was thrilled to check my Facebook wall and find his this-season advice for March Madness:
Who do you like in the Big East? Apparently the powerhouse division this year.
I asked Neil that very Q. Here's an answer. If you go this deep, though, you better be able to back it up:
How can you not love Syracuse? 6 OTs against UConn. Playing against Louisville for the Championship! Go Orangemen!
Happy tournament, people. Fill out those brackets.
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