Bracket Craziness!!!!

In this episode we are talking all things Basketball and some other things as well. There is a mention of a special drink that has been tried right before the recording of the episode. It is related to an anniversary of a show. Another flavor of Reese's has been tried as well. What other things should I try for future episodes?

Here is a link to my other podcast-

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-simple-discussion/id1843198044

https://open.spotify.com/show/6dTngjtXoqqBomtzGyzKFH?si=7b638fc700074435

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Hello, and welcome back to the Let's Talk podcast. My name is Hannah Cubington, and I am so glad you have come back again and joined me for another lovely episode. I hope you have enjoyed this beautiful spring weather because I know I have been, because I have been loving all this sunshine, minus these storms that have come through. Not okay. Just keep with the sunshine in my eyes. I love a lot of sunshine because that means I can enjoy the outdoors finally after being so cooped up from the big snowstorm we had back in January. Yes, you heard me correctly. A snowstorm kept me cooped in for about a week, but that was a while ago, and I am glad spring has sprung and the weather is nice. But I am here to talk about some fun stuff that I said I tried because I said there was an item I bought that I had not tried yet that I was finally able to try. If you listened to my last episode, you heard me talk about how I bought a couple items at the store while hungry. Yes. I went into detail about that in my previous episode about that. I still don't recommend going to the store hungry, but sometimes that happens. It's like you go to the store for one thing and end up buying more than what you need, and you're spending more money than you need to, is what I'm trying to get at. But the item that I had not tried yet, which is another Reese's product, by the way. Oh, I love my Reese's. It's one of my top candies. And it's so funny how I worked with someone and they never asked me my favorite candy, which is I like Three Musketeers, Kit Kats, and Reese's. Those are my top candies. And yes, I count chocolate as candy. This is a judgment-free zone, okay? Please and thank you. It seems that Reese's has come out with so many different flavored things. It seems like every time you turn your back, Reese's has made another new flavor to try. Because I know I talked about one Reese's flavor in the previous episode, and I'm back again to talk about another flavor. And this flavor was kind of controversial when it first came out. I know I'm late to trying this as well. Sometimes it takes a while to get around to trying candy because life happens, you think about it, and then you forget about it. So, yes, that is my life, is I hear about it, think about it, and then it goes over my head until I go to the store hungry and I'm like, oh yeah, I was gonna try this. That is how my brain works. And I had heard about the uh Reese's Oreo combination. On I don't know where where I heard about it, it might have been social media or a podcast I listened to. They were talking about this, don't remember where I heard it, but I heard it from somewhere, and they were talking about it, kind of mean like I don't know about it. So I kind of left it on the bat burner, is what I decided on. And I was like, I'll get around to trying it someday. Well, that was this past weekend. I finally got around to trying it, and let's just say I enjoyed it. I think Oreo and Reese should team up together again because I have had Reese's and Oreo together in another combination. I think I made, or I'm no, I might be thinking of something else I did. No, I think I did. I think there was a blizzard I had where I had Reese's and Oreo together with Fudge back last fall. It's been so long ago that I don't remember that because I don't get blizzards that often, by the way. But I think I had a blizzard where I mixed Oreo and Reese together, and I like that combo, and I was like, oh, this is good. So I had high, high hopes for this Reese cup combination, and it hit the spot. I will say that. There could have been a hint more peanut butter and Oreo pieces in the Reese cup, but there's so much you can put in a Reese cup for it to say the size it is, and I liked it how they combined two different chocolates. I think that's what was throwing people off was how they used two different chocolates on the Reese cup. People were expecting it to be completely milk chocolate, and it's half milk chocolate and half white chocolate, by the way. And I liked the combo, it was a good combo. Not gonna lie, I enjoyed this combo, it was really, really good. I would buy it again. I think they made it even into minis, possibly, I don't remember, but yes, I was late to that game as well for being a Reese's lover, but overall that was good. And then another thing I tried, which literally just happened before I started recording this episode. If you have not been paying attention for uh almost a month, maybe a hint longer, there people have been hyping up for the Hannah Montana reunion because the show Hannah Montana is officially 20 years old. What a TV show I grew up watching is officially 20 years old. Oh my gosh, it makes me feel a little bit old but a little nostalgic. And so there's been a lot of interesting things coming out for this anniversary, by the way. A lot of people have been doing a lot of things to promote this anniversary, by the way. And one of them was, and this was a very last-minute one, by the way. I have never heard of Starbucks doing something like this, but Starbucks is rebranding by the way, they've been kind of changing their brand around. I would say for the last almost year, year and a half, if I am remembering correctly, I I don't know, but I saw this come into my inbox on my Starbucks app where they were doing a specialty drink for the Hannah Montana reunion, which is 20 years old, and I was like, I have to try this, is what I thought in my head. Like yesterday, I was like, I'll get around to it the next day, and your own girl did. She went to Starbucks and got this drink, and a lot of priestesses are confused about this drink because they were not aware of it. I guess corporate did not tell them, but sent the supplies, which I'm finding very, very interesting. I would have never thought a corporation would do something like that, but they did. Because when I went to order, I said I said to the lady, I was like, could I get the Hannah Montana anniversary drink? And she was a little confused, but once I explained it, she knew what I was talking about. And I'm gonna go look at what makes this drink because I think it's very interesting, by the way. Very, very interesting. Let's go to my inbox on Starbucks. It is, I think you can get it in any size, but they recommended a size. Y'all get as much as you want of this Hannah Montana drink. We listen and we don't judge. Here is the recipe for it is it is a strawberry refresher with no strawberry inclusions. Well, I got strawberry inclusions, I thought it made it really delicious. Raspberry cold foam and two, and how many ever pumps of the raspberry syrup? If you know the drama with the raspberry syrup at Starbucks, was they were always running out of the raspberry syrup for a good while during the pandemic, and Starbucks got rid of the raspberry syrup for about it felt like two and a half years, less than three, but they didn't have that syrup for a while, and it sounded like they are bringing it back, which hey, I am all for because I liked it. I I enjoyed it really, really well. So I am glad they brought that syrup back now that I know. I don't know how long they'll have this syrup, I don't know if it's just for this drink, but I thoroughly enjoyed this drink. I think I'll be going back again and getting this drink again before they stopped selling it because it was so good. I think it's one of those drinks that should stay because I think it's been very popular and people have been posting about it on social media as well if you didn't know that. So little heads up, I found out about it through social media, and then I looked on my Starbucks app and it was real. I know right now we all know what March is about. I am not a sports person, but it is the most popular thing that happens in the month of March, other than we switch seasons in March from winter to spring. There is a big sporting event that happens in March, and it is March Madness. Yes, March Madness. Your girl is not a sports girly, but she will learn as much as she can about March Madness so she understands March Madness because it has become almost a pop culture phenomenon, if I'm understanding correctly. I am typing this out on my phone and looking it up, please excuse me. Because I'm asking how many people fill out a March Madness bracket, and lovely Google has told me it looks like almost they give a rough estimate between 60 million to 100 million people fill out a March Madness bracket every year. And I remember growing up, this wasn't a big deal, and I got this info from thank you, Google AI, for helping me. I'm sorry, I'm not an AI person, but sometimes, but I actually this information comes from the NCAA website, so thank you in a NCAA website for giving that info. So it goes from 60 million to 100 million people fill out a bracket dish every year, every year, and then I think it's ever growing this bracket craziness and just how much money is put into this between commercials to how it's promoted. I feel like it gets bigger every single year since I was a kid, and I'm usually one of those that does not pay attention to this stuff. As I was saying, March Madness seems to be getting bigger and bigger every year, passes on between spending it feels like almost it's all day, like affairs of what is happening to even local radio stations giving getting involved in giving away money and TVs if you get involved with their bracket, whatever is going on, and there's even apps now that you can fill out and create your brackets online. It started out just being this piece of paper people would fill out and put their teams on, and that's what you did. But uh, as technology has evolved, that means how you do your bracket has evolved, and there are people creating the craziest of non-sports related brackets I have been seeing in the last couple years as well. A radio station I interned at, and I interviewed people from that at that I'm trying to say at that radio station on my other podcast. I will put a link to maybe those episodes or just that podcast in general, and you can go check out those episodes where they just do one with little Debbie snack cakes with some of the local schools, which I think is really cool. I think that's been the coolest one I've seen in another radio station. I entered at lord, this one. I'm like, oh my word, I can't believe they did this. They did one with all the sodas that they thought are popular and hit a bracket with that just for funsies. And I was scratching my head going, um, what's this about? And they are part of the company I'm at. So I'm wondering whose pride idea bright idea this was, or was it I'm gonna say it AI generated. Yes, I said it, I said it, but I hope it was more of just somebody came up with it because their brain wasn't fully working that morning and they thought it was a bright idea. That's the part about morning shows is some of the craziest ideas come out during morning shows. I learned that from doing a 10-week internship, and that is all I'm gonna say. But this year was me filling out my first bracket, and this is what this episode is gonna be about. I might be recording this in segments, I don't know how I'm gonna handle this episode with this topic, just go with the flow. But I'm gonna talk about how I got involved with filling out a bracket, and I I kind of was encouraged to do this with my family, more of my extended family, because I have a cousin who's loves basketball, has always loved basketball, and he encouraged us to create a family bracket this year and make it a competition, a very cheap one, which I am super grateful for. Not gonna tell the price, but it's cheaper than another one I heard about. But I think my radio station one would have been even cheaper, but I don't know if staff could have gotten involved in that one. I should have done my research and asked, or I should have just filled one out and just said, just do it. I might do that next year if it if I'm still with this company, I might do that. But how did I get involved is family? I got involved with my family. Did I ever do one in the past? This is an easy answer for y'all. I really didn't have much of an interest in that. I would hear about it through people and people getting not so happy with their brackets, but oh well, I would just hear about it. I didn't really have an interest, I'd just hear about it and go, oh cool, but not for me, myself, or I and while I was filling out my bracket, by the way, I I just did it very randomly and just went with the go with your flow because I was like, I have enough knowledge from doing high school sports for two seasons now. Officially, I can say that that feels crazy to say I've done two seasons of high school sports. I said that will be easy, I'll just fill out a bracket. Well, I'm gonna say it. My bracket ain't doing so hot, the one I'm doing with my family. It ain't doing so hot. I I'm in last place, sadly. I'm in last place because I just did the go with your flow method, and I went with the team having hope because they got a new coach, and I thought they would do well, and that is not the case at all. I was rooting for UK and they came out in the in round two, yeah. They went out in round two. So between the first two rounds is when I got my bracket pretty busted up. I was doing good because in the first round I got one let me let me count real fast. I got seventeen. So I got about a hundred and seventy points in the first round. If you were hearing me count, my bad. I was trying to count as best as I could and not make you guys hear it, but I got a hundred and seventy points in the first round. Then moving to like the second round, I got it. Second round, which leaves me at two ninety currently, and I'm sadly still in last place. So yeah, my bracket is pretty busted up. And then I woke up to I could fill out more brackets for the sixteen. And I decided why not fill out some other brackets because you can do actually a second chance bracket, by the way. They have opened that up and given you a few days to do a second bracket, and since GK got eliminated, I was like, I gotta make a new bracket, and the team I'm now going for is Arizona. So I have faith in Arizona, by the way. So even though I am not watching the games, I guess your homegirl needs to do some research before filling out her bracket, is what I am learning because it ain't going well, and I already know I'm gonna lose. Even if I do these, I accidentally filled two extra brackets out. I wanted to only fill out one extra. I'm learning the bracket app, by the way. This is the first year I'm using it. We all make mistakes, so Whoops, I am learning as I go. It's totally fine, right? For someone who's not a sports girly. But I had some faith in some teams. It's like they did well the first round, and I'm like, oh, they're gonna do well and make it pretty far. And they were out by the second round. And I'm like, why why did this happen? I that's not what I wanted. I wanted I wanted them to go farther. Like some of the teams like were like they were like either one above each other or one below each other. And those were some really hard games. It's like it was literally neck and neck with some of the games when I would look at points because I wasn't watching, but I would check like many times during the day of okay, how's it going? And then you look and you're like, ugh, it doesn't look good, and you're like, dang, did I invest in the wrong teams? But it's supposed to be for fun. You shouldn't get stressed about oh no, your bracket isn't going well. I just did it for fun because there's nothing wrong with a good fun game to do with people because I feel like I'm officially old enough I can do this, and people have come out with some crazy names for the these brackets, is what I'm learning. But yeah, I didn't really expect to see be able to make a second bracket thought. Well, I don't think that's gonna be possible, but it is. Pray for the best. I guess that's the part about technology, is you can now fill out a second bracket, whereas in the past you only had one bracket, and if your bracket was pretty screwed up, then there was no chance of you winning. And even if you have a second bracket, yeah, you're still not gonna win. I'm just it's just so you learn how to fill out brackets or have faith, is just what I'm learning. I'm just filling this out to have a fun time and learn how sports works for someone who is not very educated in sports. Will I do this again next year? I honestly really do not know. We'll have to just wait and see what happens. I like it, it's getting me more educated of how sports works and how teams get put where they are and why they play certain days over other days. And some teams they'll get a too big of a break and then it hurts them, is what I learned. And I think that's what happened to the team who one of the teams who got cut early is they had too much of a break, and then they got they didn't make it, or they're riding on that high of winning that first round, and then it hurts them later on, which happened to some teams as well, because there was some really good teams that could have made it far and didn't, which is also really really sad. This is not a sports podcast, I'm just going into little details of from me filling out a bracket and I wanted to talk about it from what I was seeing and observing. Is this has been ever growing for a while now, and it should not get competitive, it should just be fun, and you get to have fun. So I hope you have enjoyed this episode of me talking about all the craziness of how March Madness is and my experience with it. I hope I explained my experience well. But I will say before ending, I am having a fun time following the brackets, even though I am watching zero of the games, I have been doing a lot of other things while this has been going on, but I've been learning uh from everybody that maybe I should pay a little more attention when picking my teams, like when doing doing this next year. And I will be doing it next year because I think it's a lot of fun, and I might be filling out more than one bracket and competing in two different competitions. I really don't know. We'll have to just wait and see where I am in life. Of will I be doing it with a radio station as well? We'll have to wait and see what next year brings. I hope you have enjoyed this episode. Bye.