After last Sunday's first-round playoff games, I received a novel-length text from an anguished team captain, lamenting the fact that they had had to take on an opponent with a decided physical edge. "They had several guys 6'3" and over, while our tallest guy is barely six foot," he wrote. His team had lost by a considerable margin and he was dejected. His tone was civil, not angry, just disappointed. He felt that I hadn't done my due diligence in setting up the brackets and that his team was wildly overmatched. I felt (feel) bad for him. He's a good guy and nobody likes to go out in the first round.

It is an inexact science at best. Even if two teams are evenly matched, you can still get a blowout. I would like nothing better than for every single game to go down to the wire, but it just doesn't happen. 

One other thing: He offered to help me set up the brackets. I'm sorry, but that's a horrible idea. Can you imagine having teams pick their own opponents in the playoffs?

One other thing of major importance: I am instructing the scorekeepers and refs to not allow someone whose name is not on the official roster sheet to play in the playoffs. If you attempt it, you will not be allowed to play. If you somehow get away with it and I find out later, I will kick your team out of the playoffs. Every season, there's one or two teams that try to pull a fast one by adding a ringer. I'm tired of it and I'm bringing the hammer down. You've been warned.