Did that actually just happen?!? No, it didn’t. It never does. (Photo “courtesy” of Times Union)

Don’t do it. Don’t give in. Let it walk away, like the girl you loved that couldn’t give a damn about you or that gift you gave her on a Wednesday, “just because it’s a Wednesday.”

You’ve probably seen a Great Upset before, and you may have even predicted it. There may have been a reason for your prediction, or it may have been luck. (*If it was “luck,” this should be a stiff warning to proceed with caution.) It probably made you clamor for the next one, desperate even. You probably scratched at your arms, tried to forget the thrill it gave you.

But, like a dealer or that girl in roller skates who popped you ecstasy that first time, you chase the high like it’s attainable again. It gave you a taste, told you it would be back, and then decided not to call you.

The Upset is the evil sister of the Dance, and the cruelest kind of calm in the storm that gives March Madness its second and third syllables – Madness.

Syracuse almost gave us a historic one yesterday, as it nearly became the first No. 1 seed to ever lose in the first round. Of course, it didn’t happen. It never does.

I’ve made my own great calls. #13 Siena over #4 Vanderbilt in 2008 was one, coupled with a few great ones in 2006. Tennessee, I knew, would go down in its second game, regardless of its No. 2 seeding. I knew Syracuse wouldn’t last a game, and that Duke or UConn wouldn’t win the tourney.

And so, after nailing those, I went into 2007 full of flavour and potential. And, I blew it. Like, bad.

I stumbled out of the opening weekend like a kid who won’t stop vomiting on the Sunday after St. Patrick’s Day. And, that was, literally, the day after St. Patrick’s Day.

Don’t fall for the upset. Sure, they will happen, and you may even call one this year. Hell, you may have already called one.

Just don’t chase it. It will only leave you crying in the dark, or on your parents’ porch, or on the bus as you commute to class (*yea, I saw you this morning.)