My girlfriend is winning my office pool

Update [4/19]: My girlfriend did not win our office pool, which is alright, I guess since she's no longer my girlfriend. So it goes...

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On paper, I should be the hands-down favorite to win my company office pool for the 2009 NCAA Basketball Tournament. I’ve logged hundreds of hours watching games and highlights; read every newspaper article, Internet story, and blog post on the sport; and have spoken to numerous journalist buddies who cover college hoops to get their insider opinions.

I was more prepared for this year’s NCAA tourney than I was for my high school SAT exam.

So, imagine my surprise when I logged-in to ESPN.com this morning to find out who’s leading our office pool… My British girlfriend.

My British girlfriend, who’s never watched a single minute of college basketball, is leading our office pool.

My British girlfriend, who’s never heard of any of the players, coaches or schools in the tournament, is leading our office pool.

My British girlfriend, who’s never even heard of an office pool, is leading our office pool.

How on Earth could a non-sports fan, non-gambler, non-American­ be leading our entire office pool when all other participants are so well-versed in the sport?

To quote the great British rock band, The Who: “I can’t explain…”

You’re probably wondering how she did it. Well, I’ll tell you.

The night before the start of the tournament, I told Lorraine she would be entering our office pool. I did this not because I thought she would win or do well… I did this to clear the path of allowing me to watch college hoops for the next three weeks in the comfort of my own apartment with her (willingly) alongside me. This was great “man” strategy on my part, and even Lorraine was excited to watch the games now that she was invested in the tournament… Mission accomplished.

That same night, I explained to her how the tournament and pool would work, and then I took her game-by-game through the brackets with her picking a winner in each game. Did I give her any insight, or share with her my opinion…? Not at all. I simply named the two teams that were playing in a particular game, and also told her the seed for each team.

Our conversation sort of went like this:

Mitch: Who do you think will win -- No. 1 Connecticut or No. 16 Tennessee-Chattanooga?

Lorraine: Well, I have a friend from Connecticut, so I pick Connecticut.

Mitch: Do you like No. 7 California, or No. 10 Maryland?

Lorraine: That's easy. Since you’re from California… I’ll take Maryland.

Mitch: How ‘bout No. 4 Xavier against No. 13 Portland State?

Lorraine: Ooh – I like the name Xavier… Maybe for a little boy, or a dog. I want Xavier! And can we get a dog…?

And on we went through each game, just like this…

But a funny thing happened on the way to the Sweet Sixteen… Lorraine was winning, and by a wide margin at that. Lorraine had correctly predicted 40 winners in 48 games (83%). By comparison, I’ve called only 38 of 48 games (79%), and my friend and office mate, Tim – who’s probably the biggest college basketball fan in the whole company – was getting trounced by my girlfriend.

If the University of Connecticut makes it to the tournament final on April 6^th and wins the game, my British girlfriend will have won our entire office pool. Call it “unbelievable”, call it a “miracle”… call it whatever you like. But whatever you call it, or even Lorraine, you’ll need to call her “office pool champion” if UConn cuts down the nets in two weeks.

It just goes to show that it doesn’t take brains or insight to win your office pool, but just dumb luck. It also goes to show, unfortunately, that women are always right… always.