New Fic: March Madness

[namaste]

Title: March Madness
Author: Namaste
Summary: House has been banned from the NCAA pool. You don't think that'll stop him, do you? House and Wilson friendship. No angst, no misery, not much of a plot. About 700 words
Excerpt:"Just tell me who I picked."

House pulled open a drawer and took out a folder, started flipping through the sheets until he came to one in the middle.

"North Carolina over UCLA," he said, and held it out to Wilson. "Very boring. Very safe. Very you."





"I just got the strangest call." Wilson covered the distance between the door and House's desk in four steps. "Williams from ortho just called to congratulate me. Seems I'm in first place so far in their NCAA pool."

House glanced over the top of his glasses. "Mazel tov." He looked back down at the journal on his desk.

"Here's the strange part: I don't recall entering their NCAA pool."

House took off his glasses, leaned back. "Maybe you forgot."

"No," Wilson crossed his arms over his chest. "I think I'd remember that. After all I seem to remember you bitching that they banned you from their pool this year."

"For no good reason," House said.

"Right," Wilson nodded his head slightly, "for no good reason. Or because they're just jealous of your mad skills in picking teams, or maybe -- just maybe -- it's because you hacked into their database last year when you started losing."

House snorted, picked up the phone and held it out to Wilson. "First, the year 1998 called. They want their slang back. 'Mad skills?'" He shook his head. "Second, I didn't hack into anything."

Wilson didn't say anything, just raised his eyebrows.

"Some resident left a computer on. I just ..."

"Took advantage of that and erased all the names from the spread sheet so that they couldn't tell who won. Then you shredded all the original paper copies."

"Is it my fault that they didn't lock the filing cabinet?" House shrugged, put the phone back on the cradle. "OK, so nobody won, but nobody lost either. Besides, I was doing them a favor."

Wilson just stared at him.

"They needed to learn something about protecting confidential files. Anyone off the street could have walked in and accessed patient information."

"So what lesson are you teaching them this year, to check IDs before accepting anyone's money?"

"Why are you bitching? You're in first place."

"I'm not bitching, I'm just ..." Wilson uncrossed his arms, pulled over one of the chairs and sat, stretching his legs out in front of him. "Just tell me who I picked."

House pulled open a drawer and took out a folder, started flipping through the sheets until he came to one in the middle.

"North Carolina over UCLA," he said, and held it out to Wilson. "Very boring. Very safe. Very you."

Wilson ignored the paper in House's hand, grabbed the file from the desk instead. "What's wrong with betting on a sure thing?"

"Nothing, if you're a girl."

Wilson shook his head, looked over photocopied pages, one with Taub's name at the top, one with Thirteen's, one with Kutner's. He stared at another name for a moment before he recognized it. "You submitted one for Coma Guy?"

"It's a big hospital," House said. "They'll just figure it's some night shift nurse no one can remember."

Wilson put the page back, looked at the next one. "Cuddy?"

"Pffft. She picked USC to make it to the Elite Eight," House said. "No one's going to be calling to congratulate her." He looked at Wilson's sheet again. "You, on the other hand, somehow picked Siena over Vanderbilt. How'd you manage that?"

"Guess I got lucky." Wilson closed the file, tossed it onto House's desk. "Why not just enter someone else's pool? Chase would be glad to take your money."

"Betting with Chase is like betting for North Carolina over UCLA: boring."

"And getting past ortho's ban?"

House smiled. "Much more interesting."

"So what's to keep me from telling them that you forged my entry?"

"Loyalty."

Wilson shook his head.

"Revenge? Simpson voted with Vogler to kick you off the board."

Wilson leaned forward. "Cash," he said. "I hear there's nearly five hundred bucks in the pot. My entry wins, I keep half."

"I did all the work," House said. "Sixty-fourty."

"Fifty-fifty," Wilson said, "or I mention something in passing about how well the guy in a coma is doing."

House looked up at the ceiling for a moment, then at Wilson. "Give me ten bucks to cover your half of the bet, and you're in."

Wilson paused.

"Ten bucks for more than two hundred bucks," House said. He held out his hand.

Wilson nodded, reached into his pocket and took out his wallet. He fished out a bill and handed it over. "North Carolina," he said. "Sounds like a sure thing."

"Right." House took the bill, put it in his own pocket. He smiled. "Trust me. It'll be easy money."

Comments

[chase-austenfan.livejournal.com]

Is there someplace to sign myself into for this. I swear... I am a complete addict for these sport-fics! I didn't do the brackets, but the s.o. did and as he enjoyed thefootball fics (which is saying something... he's not really a fanfic reader), I am planning on showin him this as well.

Totally in character as always... I love the dialogue, and the way that you make it fit in so nice in the here and now but in cannon- brilliant!

Will be looking forward to any more that come with baited breath! :)

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, Wilson. You never learn.

[cindy-lou-who8.livejournal.com]

"First, the year 1998 called. They want their slang back."

Brilliant! I loved it! (even though I know nothing about basketball!)

[namasteyoga.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I really don't know what will come next (it depends on the events of real life). I hadn't even been thinking about March Madness fic until it hit me Friday that House would totally be involved in any pool available. It's kind of fun, though, to just write their reactions to "real" life.

[namasteyoga.livejournal.com]

Yeah. House gets Wilson to play along -- and gets ten bucks in the process.

[namasteyoga.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Hopefully these "sports fics" don't necessarily require a lot of knowledge of the sports in order to enjoy them. (Heck, I didn't even enter the pool at work because I suck at them.)

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Heh. This continues to be my favorite gen series. So in character, so fun.

[sabra-n.livejournal.com]

Ha. I love the reference to Chase's newfound status as one of PPTH's premiere bookies. House has taught him well.

-blue

[phinnia.livejournal.com]

Marvelous. <3 <3 *laugh* Famous last words, House!

[blackmare-9.livejournal.com]

Oh, this made me smile. Thank you. I adore their haggling and especially House's blame of the ortho people for not safeguarding their information.

Hee!

And the Coma Guy! Wonderful.

[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

"Fifty-fifty," Wilson said, "or I mention something in passing about how well the guy in a coma is doing."

Hehee! I love Wilson doing his own little bit of blackmailing here.

[livelove423.livejournal.com]

haha, as a Carolina student, I smiled everytime I saw the words "North Carolina". Couldn't you have put a jab in there on Duke losing? haha. I hope this continues!

Still LJ-impaired... :-)

[(Anonymous)]

Shouldn't House be interested in the NCAA hockey tournament? Michigan's ranked #1, and the selection show is tomorrow. :-)

[angelcat2865.livejournal.com]

Cool story

[namasteyoga.livejournal.com]

Thanks very much. They're fun to write, and of course I never meant to come up with a House-and-Wilson-talk-sports series. It just kind of ... happened. (But you know they totally do have all these side bets and shenanigans.)

[namasteyoga.livejournal.com]

Thanks. In my mind, Chase launched his career as a bookie because he missed that element of gambling that was so essential to his years with House. (It's his way of holding a piece of the past -- the fun part -- with him.)

[namasteyoga.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'm planning, more or less, to have House and Wilson scheming together in this bet, rather than being in competition, but we'll see how things play out.

[namasteyoga.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I have the feeling House entered Coma Guy in multiple bets over the years.

[namasteyoga.livejournal.com]

Wilson's always been a bit cutthroat himself, hasn't he? Making evil work for you is a fine art.

[namasteyoga.livejournal.com]

Duke hadn't lost yet when I was writing this, but we'll see how many upsets come our way as it goes along. Thanks.

Re: Still LJ-impaired... :-)

[namasteyoga.livejournal.com]

I'm sure House follows the hockey tournament, but let's face it: there aren't many office pools for that tournament.

[namasteyoga.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'm glad you liked it.

[merlynnod.livejournal.com]

Wonderful! ;) I love House's "1998" comment, and entering a bet under Coma Guy was absolutely hilarious. ;) And his actions as described about the last year, with hacking into the database and shredding the hard copies, totally in-character and, again, totally hilarious. :)

Great stuff, as always! Seeing your name come up in a fic community is always a day-brightener for me. :)

[hithah.livejournal.com]

I really love these stories of yours! I don't follow sports at all (to the point where I don't even know what times of the year different sports are played), but I always rush to read these when they show up on my friends list. :)

I think what I love most about them is how original a concept it is to have House and Gang reacting to real-life events. Even if I'm not following said events, it's so fun to know that the PPTH crew is being affected by something that's actually happening! It gives the story that much more suspense too, since real life is going to determine the outcome, not the author. You do such a great job of keeping everyone in character that it's easy to believe they're all real and actually watching these games and betting on them.

So much love for this series. Great to see its triumphant return! I look forward to more!

[talulahk.livejournal.com]

love love love! I really enjoyed your last series - can't wait to read more as the March Madness continues.

<--- don't hate me, but Stanford fan here. Oh and KU. oops.

[cadeira.livejournal.com]

I have absolutely no idea what this is about... ncaa?
*W*
But I liked the "slang" line a lot ;)

[namasteyoga.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I'm glad the "1998" comment worked. I loved the idea of House forging a bunch of entries under other people's names, and needed a reason why. The banning somehow made sense.

[namasteyoga.livejournal.com]

Thanks a lot. I'm not a huge sports fan, but I follow it enough to carry my end in a conversation at work except amongst the major sports fans. I actually watch more complete games when I'm writing these fics than I do at any other time.

[namasteyoga.livejournal.com]

I really don't have a horse in this race (Michigan State to a certain extent, but that's it). I suppose I'll have to reference somewhere here that the terms of the last bet have nearly come to an end since Boston's home opener is April 8 -- the day after the NCAA final. Hmmm.

[namasteyoga.livejournal.com]

I wondered if I should have provided a primer for non-sports people. The NCAA tournament is the U.S. college basketball national championship tournament. It begins with a slate of 64 teams. After this weekend's first two games, it goes to the "Sweet Sixteen" (which will be the title of the next fic) at the end of this week, then the "Elite Eight" and "Final Four."

[npkedit.livejournal.com]

Well, House is wrong (UCLA had better take out North Carolina if I'm going to have a shot at being in the money in the NYC publishing house pool), but the fic is stellar as usual.

Can't wait for next week's installment...because you must continue it!

[namasteyoga.livejournal.com]

Good luck in the pool, even if House may find your picks boring. Of course who knows what will happen in real life to impact the fic. (Duke losing? Wow.)

[cadeira.livejournal.com]

Well, I figured out that it´s about betting on some kind of tournament..(whoa, I´m THAT attentive) but the whole who picks which team (I suppose) - that´s still somehow nebulous but that doesn´t mean you have to add explanations for foreign sport wimps like me. If everybody added long prefaces to their fics I would spend even more time ;)
I read it anyway because I know your stuff´s good in general.

[npkedit.livejournal.com]

I'm not so surprised by Duke's defeat (they were overrated this year and it showed) as I am by Georgetown's meltdown. My pool hopes are fading fast.

[shamans-storm.livejournal.com]

This was a fun read. Thank you. Looking forward to more...

[namasteyoga.livejournal.com]

Here's the basics on how the NCAA pools work:
You start with a blank bracket sheet (available for download in multiple sites) which rank teams according to how they're expected to play: so you have the north division, the south, the east, the west, with number one seeds, number two, etc. in each division.

Before the tournament begins, you fill out the bracket on your predictions from the first 64 teams all the way to the championship game. There are two different ways of tallying points: either you get one point for each correct pick, regardless of where that pick occurs, or points are weighted toward the right choices at the end of the tournament, with one point for each correct choice in the first round, two points in the second and so on. (The latter is the point spread I'm picturing for the PPTH pool.) Does that help?

[namasteyoga.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Next up: Sweet Sixteen.

[cadeira.livejournal.com]

Woah, yes it does, a lot actually. It makes a lot of sense now, and you´re intending to write more..cool.
Thanks for your patience ;)

[mer-duff.livejournal.com]

A friend asked me today whether I was disappointed with the Sweet Sixteen and I actually had a partially informed answer because of this story (I love sports, but I've never been all that interested in college basketball). Looking forward to the next round in more ways than one now!

[angelfirenze.livejournal.com]

You actually make me care about sports! And I can hear House, Wilson, and Cuddy's voices so well when you write them. *sighs and wonders why I'm waking back up when I was ready to crash half an hour ago*

[namasteyoga.livejournal.com]

If I'd thought about this in advance I would have submitted a bracket in our office pool with "Wilson's" picks just so I could track it more closely. As it is, I'm just stealing bits of conversation and other people's strategies, so I'm stealing from real people, for a fic, that helps real life discussions. Weird, huh?

[namasteyoga.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'm not a major sports fan, but I play one in fic. ;)

[jdr1184.livejournal.com]

I love that House is more about getting around their ban than being in the pool. Who are you kidding Wilson, you were never going to rat him out. :)

[namasteyoga.livejournal.com]

Thanks. What's more of a challenge to House, subverting the system or a simple bet? Actually, I think just subverting the system is its own reward for him.

[mystcphoenxcafe.livejournal.com]

Greetings!

True that! Which makes his going out w/Amber a lot less weird than one might at first think. (Should we be afraid? :-P)

-Katrina

[mystcphoenxcafe.livejournal.com]

Greetings!

And another loverly sports series to read! :-) And since I've come late to the party, I don't have to wait to discover how it ends out! :-D (Hey, gotta find that silver lining somewhere! :-P)

-Katrina