The Front Row with ERIC PLUMMER March 21, 2010

March Madness is upon us, which means my colleague Mark Nelke is making his annual pilgrimage to one of the eight venues to watch the first and second rounds of the NCAA basketball tournament, and per usual, I'm pinch hitting in his Sunday column space.

A Wikipedia search of March Madness lists two definitions. The first is obvious, as employees around the country channel their inner-Dick Vitale and enter the good old office pool. All it takes is a pencil, $5 and a healthy imagination and you can contribute to the untold billions of dollars supposedly lost to wasted employee productivity.

The other meaning refers to the last month before the Government of Canada's fiscal year end (March 31), when departments traditionally rush to spend the remainder of their budgets.

I like the first one better.

March Madness goes by a different name in North Idaho: spring sports. Between the usual mix of snow, ice, rain, mud, wind, sleet, hail and intermittent sunshine, area teams usually manage to squeeze in some baseball, softball, tennis, track and golf.

Not this year. Instead of spending the first month of the season indoors, like the previous two years, coaches and athletes alike are enjoying the vintage spring conditions.

Sandpoint track coach Dave DeMers echoed a sentiment on Thursday that is probably shared by most of the area coaches, and deservedly so.

"It's the best spring ever," he said, basking in bright sunshine. "And I've been doing this for 25 years."

You were due one, coach.

Getting back to the real March Madness, I've got to admit that I've never even come close to winning an office pool, and when you see my Final Four picks for this year, you'll understand why.

They are: Michigan State, Gonzaga, New Mexico and Saint Mary's, with New Mexico beating Gonzaga in the finals. Before you laugh, understand there is a method to my madness.

The Zags pick is self-explanatory, and I'm not above calling myself a homer.

I always pick the Spartans in honor of local legendary hoops coach Jud Heathcote, who not only coached the great Michael Ray Richardson at my alma mater, the University of Montana, but also coached the Grizzly handball team, led by a national champion from Butte named Billy Peoples.

What, you thought Magic Johnson was the only national champion Heathcote ever coached?

New Mexico and St. Maries are part of the west coast bias philosophy that usually dominates my brackets. Besides, what fun is picking all the No. 1 seeds.

Did I mention I've never won before?

What is the most fun part of March Madness, other than the buzzer beaters, Cinderellas and unscripted drama that drags on for more than two weeks? For me, it's using the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon methodology to arrive at the conclusion that Joe's Barber College, at least in theory, could be national champions.

It goes something like this, hypothetically, of course: Joe's Barber College beats Sagebrush Community College, which beats Fort Wayne State, which beats Montana Tech, which beats North Dakota State, which beats the University of Wyoming, which beats Sienna, which beats Rutgers, which beats Marquette, which beats Syracuse, which beats . . . you get the picture.

Now if only Joe's Barber College could keep its underclassmen from leaving early for the NBA draft.

A final shout out has to go to Sandpoint shooting guard Stefan Buratto. Think how many great high school basketball players never scored 30 points in a single game. Now consider that Stefan Buratto scored 40 or more points three times this season, including a 42 point outburst to lead the North team at the recent Idaho all-star game at NIC.

That doesn't happen by accident, and it wasn't a case of him never meeting a shot he didn't like. In fact, he rarely shot under 50 percent from the field, and 90 percent from the line. Just a natural shooter and scorer of the basketball.

Enjoy March Madness.

Eric Plummer is the sports editor of the Bonner County Daily Bee in Sandpoint. For comments, suggestions or story ideas, he can be reached at (208) 263-9534, ext. 226, or via e-mail at "eplummer@bonnercountydailybee.com."