Jose Ortega Gasset was a Spanish philosopher whose work frequently gets the yellow highlighter treatment in my house. Gasset provides us today’s lesson:

“The most salient characteristic of life is its urgency, the here and now without any possible postponement. Life is fired at us point blank.”

Is it worth it to you? I mean, really, is it worth it to wring the fingerprints from your hands over the hysterical double-talk that comes from the guys defending the selections? You knew it was coming.

Not me.

Yes, ODU is better than an 11 seed, but the Monarchs have a nice matchup. Yes, even though the NIT is no longer about politics, a team with an RPI 35 spots better will travel to the worse RPI squad. And yes, you need to take it as a sign, a bad sign–we’re seeing 96 teams next season so get comfy.

Point blank, it’s time to live the NCAA tournament. It does no good to winnow away my personal enjoyment because a bunch of guys are doing exactly what we know they are going to do.

It isn’t worth it. This hit me last night, and sticks with me today. College basketball is very important to me (and you), and we know who is setting policy. Some people simply live to expectations, and you can only move forward.

It’s the old John Madden line: “don’t worry about the horse being blind, just load the wagon.”

We’re loading the wagon this week.

Here’s what we know: Old Dominion is playing Notre Dame in New Orleans. The Pugs get Carolina in Chapel Hill, and Nor’easter rolls into Storrs to play UConn.

Three others–Hofstra, VCU, and Mason–are playing in those tournaments that won’t be around in a few years.

Soak it up and enjoy it. This week is what we’ve been pointing towards for about 11 months. Don’t let it get ruined.

Yes, for many it is the best three weeks. It’s a little different around these parts. For me, we’re already in week 2.