Mulch Madness

The first weekend of the NCAA men's basketball tournament is an unofficial holiday for many Americans.  With their brackets filled out and highlighters in hand, millions of sports fans sit in front of their TV sets for hours on end from Thursday til Sunday, watching March Madness play out in front of them.  There are upsets, buzzer beaters, and great feats of athleticism.  There's tremendous optimism as the tournament kicks off on Thursday but it's often replaced by disappointment as the field of 64 is whittled down to 16 by Sunday night.

The first weekend of the tournament is also when I celebrate Mulch Madness.  It's amazing how closely Mulch Madness parallels March Madness.

Category	March Madness	Mulch Madness
Selection Sunday	The NCAA tournament selection committee carefully selects the field of 68 teams that will play for the national championship.	The mulch selection committee (that’s me) carefully determines exactly how much mulch will be needed this year.  It should be simple but, because the number of beds grows each year, it’s not.  This year, I selected 22 yards.
The Brackets	The selection committee places the teams into 4 evenly-matched brackets of 16 teams each (ignore that “First Four” nonsense).	The selection committee needs to determine how much mulch to place at the bottom of the driveway and how much to place at the top.  This year, it was 8 yards at the bottom and 14 yards at the top.
Round One	Spread over two days, the field of 64 is narrowed down to 32.	Until the pile at the bottom of the driveway is moved, no cars can make their way up the driveway.  That means there’s only one day to complete round one.  This year, round one is barely completed by the end of the day Friday.
Round Two	This round also takes two days as the field is narrowed once more down to the Sweet 16.  The first tip comes at Noon.	This round also takes two days.  However, unlike those basketball playing slackers, tip-off is at 8AM sharp.
Upsets	Unfortunately, Bucknell couldn’t come through.  But there were some big upsets.   Louisville took the big fall in Round One.  In Round Two, top-seeded Pittsburgh bit the dust.	In the biggest upset in Mulch Madness history, the committee fails to order enough mulch.  This creates much gnashing of teeth and pulling of hair.  An immediate audit is ordered so that the committee can learn from its mistake.
MVP	There were many great individual performances but Derrick Williams’ 3-point play with 8 seconds left to push Arizona past Texas stands out.	The trusty wheelbarrow comes through one more time, despite being mercilessly taunted by Kim and Jay as being “too small” and “on its last legs.”

These are the official photos of the "Field of 22" from the commemorative Mulch Madness program.

Pile #1 -- otherwise known as "the small pile." 

Pile #2 -- that would be "the large pile."