In which the Meridian picks through the charred remains of his Tournament Bracket picks

I'll keep this short.

I picked correctly 8 of 16 times for yesterday's games. In addition to Ariel's bracket challenge, I also entered the bracket contest at The New Republic's blog, The Plank, and, you'll be amused to learn, out of 21 participants there, I ranked 21st at the end of the day yesterday. Sad, sad, sad. (One fellow guessed correctly on every single game.) I picked too many upsets to occur on a day when upsets just didn't happen. Baylor was my biggest disappointment all the way around, and not just because of my bracket; sometimes one must offer up gestures of faith, and sometimes, they don't bear fruit.

Today ::knocks on wood-product:: more of my picks look sound to me. But I'm not betting the farm.

After already having chosen the title for this post, Jennifer Warnes' beautiful version of "Joan of Arc," on her recently-rereleased album of Leonard Cohen songs, Famous Blue Raincoat, began playing on my iTunes. So, in full awareness of the serendipity of that fact (listen closely to the lyrics), here you go, for your listening pleasure: "Joan of Arc."