NCAA tournament is cause for a friendly wager

From Las Vegas — 

The daughter and Ann Meyers Drysdale have so much in common.

They are both women.

Ann is in something like eight Hall of Fames, a basketball superstar in high school and college, earning $50,000 and a three-day tryout with the NBA Indianapolis Pacers and a silver medal winner in the Olympics.

The first time the daughter played basketball, she tripped over the half-court line and fell. Later she would stumble over one of those recessed cracks in a sidewalk, and fall on her face, which explains the scar on her forehead. She loves watching the Olympics, though.

Ann has been analyst on TV for nearly three decades, and helped guide the Phoenix Mercury to a WNBA title as GM.

The daughter lost her job on radio and is presently unemployed.

Ann lived in Wheaton, Ill., home of John & Jim Belushi, Bob Woodward and Page 2, for eight years, skating the same pond as Page 2, city administrators obviously waiting for just the right moment to unveil a placard marking the spot. Her brother, Mark, was in the same class as Page 2 at St. Michael’s.

The daughter has no such interesting story to tell.

But both Ann and the daughter are dreamers.

And they are teaming to pick bracket winners in the annual father-daughter NCAA tournament jaunt to Mandalay Bay for the benefit of boys’ or girls’ clubs, depending on the winner, like the gals have any chance against Page 2 and Jay Rood, the guy who sets the betting lines for all the MGM Mirage sports books and monitors where all the smart money is going.

Should the women be losers, $1,000 will be donated in their names to a boys’ club with the sincere hope this also doesn’t mean the daughter is moving back in with mom and dad.

Frankly, I found it surprising the daughter went to Drysdale for assistance, what with the next mayor of L.A., governor of California and maybe president of the United States available.

As you know, the McCourts are getting a divorce, but Frank McCourt must be so proud of Jamie, making a point of letting everyone know via court papers that she and her advisors had designs on her ruling the world.

Until now, we only thought of her as the face of the Dodgers, but according to an e-mail from a consultant directed to her, “The good news is that everyone will consider you electable [when the time is right], and I think that you can pull it off.”

The “Jamie Project,” as it was titled in a memorandum from former Dodgers image maker Charles Steinberg began with a simple goal: “To fix the world,” so how tough could an NCAA bracket be?

The Jamie Project also included a list of media members who might offer lectures in a new Dodgers University to help launch Jamie’s career as world saver, Plaschke’s name atop that list.

No mention of Page 2 as a possible helping hand, so I guess that was enough for the daughter to cast her allegiances elsewhere.

I thought her first call might be to Frank, every potential single man maybe her last hope, but she seemed to think Ann really knows her basketball.

She does, too, immediately picking Connecticut to win it all, and it’s nice when she gets the chance to remind everyone the women play basketball, too. I had no idea either.

As for the men’s tournament, Ann and the daughter went with Marquette because Ann’s father played there. They went with Butler because that’s where Ann had her Pacers tryout. They went with Michigan State because Ann likes the coach. They went with Notre Dame because that’s where the daughter got her degree in unemployment.

No doubt the two also went with Cal because they like their uniforms, a little surprised they weren’t scared off by the Spiders in taking Richmond.

“Looks like the boys are going to pull away early,” said Rood when apprised of the women’s selections. “We may have it wrapped up by the Elite Eight.”

The bookmaker, knowing where the smart money is falling so far, gives first-round wins to all of the top three seedings.

But he has Murray State upsetting No. 4 Vanderbilt, noting there’s a bunch of money coming in on Murray State from the wise guys. “It’s the most action so far,” he said.

The money is also coming in on Sienna to beat No. 4 Purdue, and he has No. 5 Butler falling to Texas El Paso in “what should be a great game.”

He has No. 9 Northern Iowa besting No. 8 Nevada Las Vegas, and Rood has Old Dominion taking out Notre Dame, which should free up the leprechaun. Wonder if he’s single.

The biggest difference in the two brackets begins in Round 1 in the South, with the guys taking No. 9 Louisville to not only beat Cal, but advance to the Final Four.

The bookmaker is admittedly way out there with Louisville, as well as Villanova and Georgetown, but he has a nicer house than Page 2 for good reason, so no argument here.

The women, getting research and consulting help from Don Jr., a.k.a. D.J., Ann’s 22-year-old son, who goes to school at Arizona State, have Notre Dame beating Cal to move into the Final Four. Hope the kid isn’t getting his degree in prognostication, or planning a trip to Vegas in the next few days.

The bookmaker’s Final Four has Kansas, Kansas State, Kentucky and Villanova, with Kansas winning the title over Kentucky. Keep in mind Rood’s alma mater is New Mexico State, but the man is ruthless, and he has them losing in Round 1 to Michigan State.

Keep in mind he also makes his living counting money lost by those betting with their hearts.

That brings everything back to the daughter and Notre Dame, the two women also putting Ohio State, West Virginia and Kansas State in the Final Four. They have Ohio State beating West Virginia to win it all.

If there is a boys’ club in need of some new athletic equipment, please pass along your address, so the women will know where to send the check.

Should the men lose, I would guess they will be making a contribution to Jamie’s presidential campaign.

t.j.simers@latimes.com