The Sweet 16 have been whittled down to the Elite 8 and before the weekend is over, we’ll have our Final Four. I don’t know if this will hold through the weekend or through the end of the tournament…..

But for Today…….

THE DOEBLER HOUSEHOLD IS 1-2-3 in the Coach’s Corner Standings.

That’s right, my offspring and myself hold the first three spots. I’m getting a little misty-eyed just thinking about it. Brandon, my youngest (although 14 isn’t as young as it used to be) is in 1st. I’m holding down slot #2 (I’m still going to win though), and Zach, my eldest (17 and growing) is in third. This is a Kodak moment….the kind of moment that every self-respecting father dreams of. Sniff, Sniff. And I’m proud that you could all share this glorious moment with me.

Now, it’s off to clean toilets somewhere…and other non-glamorous duties.

Tournament madness resumes tonight as they begin to whittle the Sweet 16 down to the Elite Eight. I’ve still got a fighting chance in both brackets I’m in, mostly because I’ve still got 7 out of 8 teams left that I have picked for the Elite Eight. If they hold serve, I’ll have a good chance to win both. Here are my teams for tonight:

• Xavier - didn’t have them playing WVU, but if they win, it doesn’t matter
• North Carolina - thought they’d be playing Notre Dame
• UCLA - Did anybody have them playing Western Kentucky? Anybody? Don’t lie!
• Tennessee - Had this game picked right, but after the way Louisville annihilated Oklahoma, this could be trouble.

Anybody got it different?

I’ll have some thoughts about Easter and what this day has been for us and for me later tonight in Sunday Night Lights. But I thought I’d add a quick update or two on the tournament.

I woke up from my nap just in time to see Davidson put the finishing touches on Georgetown…(take that Mark Batterson). He’ll need an extra cup of coffee or two at Ebenezer’s to help him wake up from his NCAA hangover after that game. That’s what happens when you pick with your heart. I know all about that…since I’m a South Carolina fan. Anyway, I just love pulling for underdogs. I know it makes a mess of the brackets, but I love seeing them overcome. I saw a blog earlier that mentioned that Jesus’ resurrection was the ultimate come-from-behind victory. Maybe that explains my penchant for underdogs….I don’t know. But it was pretty cool to see Davidson whip some Georgetown butt!

My brackets still don’t have me at the top, but my secret weapon is that I still have more remaining points than most in both brackets I’m in. My entire Elite Eight is still playing…so I haven’t lost any chances from the last several rounds, which is where the points really add up. So I’m hanging in there.

On the Coach’s Corner front, as of right now, Jon Hartman and my youngest, Brandon, are tied for 1st, but I’m breathing down their necks. On the “Blogging Church Planters” bracket, I’m still in 48th, but have more points left than most.

Make sure you check back tonight for the Sunday Night Lights recap.

The first day of March Madness brought few surprises….which was NOT GOODfor me. I have come to count on upsets as the bread and butter of the tournament and they are part of my picks. The first round of games didn’t work out to well for me, but I moved up the charts in the second round of games during the day. I am participating in two brackets. There’s one here on the Coach’s Corner, and then I’m in a bracket of “blogging church planters” scattered around the country. Here are the day 1 results:

Coach’s Corner- I started out near the bottom of both brackets, but in my own bracket here on the blog, I have made a strong move up to number 3 after batting 1.000 in the second round of games.

Church Planting Bloggers - I’m still in the middle of the pack (that’s me down there at #42), but that’s not bad after starting the day almost at the bottom. As the old saying in golf goes “It’s not how you drive, it’s how you arrive.”

On the Coach’s Corner Bracket, have to give kudos to Mitch Varda who only missed one game. But I’m still lurking. How are your brackets doing? Any perfect brackets out there among the readers here?

I LOVE the NCAA tournament. I’m a competetion nut. I love it when people strive, give their best, and let the chips fall where they may. Naturally, I pick a bracket for March Madness. Now, I not only enjoy the competition on the court, I enjoy the competition of coming up with the best bracket. You’re invited to join. Here’s how.

STEP 1 - To get started, click here! (this will take you to the sign-up page on Yahoo. WARNING - If you want to be able to follow these directions while you complete the registration, right-click the “click here” link, and then choose to open in a new tab. That will keep this page open and give you a new window to work in.)

STEP 2 - Click on the “Join a Group” button pictured here.

Read the full story

My oldest son, Zach, has played in a basketball league throughout the winter sponsored by the Christian Center in Peoria. Those guys do a great service to the community by the way. Anyway, their team has limped through the season going 3-7. But in this league, everyone makes the tournament at the end of the season (kind of like the NBA).

Although I am not the coach, I filled in for one of their three wins earlier and have been assisting since. We pulled the team aside before the start of the game and talked about second chances. This is one of those rare opportunities in life where everything that happened before doesn’t matter or count. They came out absolutely on fire against a team that beat them by 20+ points a few weeks earlier. This time it was all Blazers (our team) as they won it going away by 16 points.

As cool as that is, it reminds me that when we come to Jesus Christ, no matter what our past or present looks like, he will wipe the slate clean if we ask him too. Our past is irrelevant with him. What matters is our future and where we are headed. And with him as Lord and Savior, the future is much better than the past.

As for the b-ball team, well….our future is still cloudy…but we are still playing….and I’ll take it!