This has been, by far, the craziest NCAA tournament I can ever remember. Every single game so far has increased my blood pressure, spiked my heart rate and probably shaved a few years off my life. If your bracket has survived the madness, props to you; I’m already down a two Final Four teams (I guess that’s what you get for ever having faith in a team from Pittsburgh or Notre Dame). Woof.

After a much needed break to get our heart rates back to normal, the next round of the tournament, the Sweet 16, kicks off this Thursday. Here’s a rundown of everything you need to know before you grab that bucket of wings/anti-anxiety medication and park yourself in front of the TV.

Some of the biggest upsets so far:

Butler over Pitt – I usually wouldn’t give a rat’s *** about anything that came out of Pittsburgh, but when an eight-seeded Butler team knocks out the first number one seed of the tournament, it’s a BFD. Especially since I probably lost a couple hundred dollars thanks to those fools. This was probably one of the weirdest game endings, ever. It came down to foul shots.

VCU over Purdue – I had never even HEARD of VCU before this tournament. The Virginia Commonwealth Rams may be the 2011 Cinderella Story. One of their own players (Jamie Skeen) even said if he was a regular person, he probably wouldn’t have picked VCU to make it to the Sweet 16.

Marquette over ‘Cuse – If you saw Marquette’s reaction at the final buzz, you’d agree with me on this one… I don’t think anyone has ever been more excited to find out they are going to New Jersey.

Games to watch:

Butler/ Wisconsin – Butler is a very, very strong 8-seed. I wouldn’t be surprised if they upset Wisconsin and made it to the Elite 8.

Florida / BYU – The Jimmer isn’t slowing down anytime soon. Going to be a great fast-paced game that you won’t want to miss.

March Madness has nothing to do with the preparations for spring break, daylong drinking holidays like Mardi Gras and St. Patrick’s Day, or studying for midterms. It is about the best three weeks of any sport — the NCAA Tournament. The best of college basketball. Even if you’ve never watched a single minute of any game all season, you can still enjoy the Big Dance. It may be the only thing your friends are talking about the next few weeks so it may be a good idea to learn some important terms.

• Sweet 16/ Elite 8 / Final Four – These are the names of different rounds of the tournament. Throw out these phrases and you may be able to impress some of the testosterone-driven so much they may remove themselves from their TV screens. It’s a long shot, but it couldn’t hurt.

• Bracket – Bracket, bracket, bracket. You’ve definitely heard this word A LOT this week. March Madness is a huge gambling event. People pick their choices to win every game. There is absolutely no science behind this. (I know people who make their picks based on school name, mascot and the uniform colors.) It may be too late to input an official bracket, but you can print one at ESPN or Yahoo Sports and make your own picks for the rest of the games.

• Bracket Buster – The upset game that ruins everyone’s brackets and their chances at a large pool of money. This may mean nothing to you now but Morehead State beating Louisville made a lot of people really, really angry. Think about it as the higher number seed (the worse team) beating the better team (the lower seed). After a really big upset you can say that your bracket is “busted.”

• Kemba Walker – One of the star players on the UConn team and sometimes referred to as King Kemba. Think, Michael Jordan. He is gorgeous to watch on the court as he blows up the boards (scores lots of points) and not bad too look at during his post-game interviews. Mmm.

• Buzzer Beater – The shot taken right before the clock runs out, when the buzzer would sound. It literally beats the buzzer. This mostly refers to the baskets that win or tie a game.

• Cinderella Story – The underdog team that should have lost in the early rounds of the tournament but managed to beat a big name team to advance. And just like Cinderella (and every other Disney princess), you can’t help but root for them.

• Buckeye – As a Penn Stater, I am ingrained to hate everything Ohio State. Ohio State received the overall number 1 seed for the tournament and many think they are favored to win the whole thing. The Buckeye is their mascot… and it’s a nut. SMH.

• The Ship – No, this is not a reference to that large cruise ship you just got off of. The Ship, or the Championship Game, will be held on April 4.

You can check out any of the games on TruTV, CBS, TNT and TBS. This is the first year that every single game is being televised so grab some popcorn, open up a cold beer, and make yourself comfortable on your couch. Or take your new-found knowledge to the bar to impress some sports fans! Either way… let the madness begin.

To me, a lot of characters regressed in this ep. I’m not shunning last night’s 43 minutes of soapy rich-kid-ness, just making an observation. When we first met Serena, she was a former party-girl elitist who was trying to make a fresh, less-shallow start. Yet, last night, S was all about being the “cool kid” once again, no matter the cost of Jenny’s feelings. She plans a Sweet Sixteen bash for Little J, and then is obviously hurt when celebutante Poppy smirks at her social calendar. Haven’t you grown beyond that, Serena?

Jenny, after dabbling in the high-class fashion biz for a few eps, wants a low-key, family-only party (complete with Rufus’ famous homemade chili), and Serena concedes. Until the lame-o cliquesters announce that they had their own party planned all along. So, unbeknownst to birthday girl Jenny, Serena decides to reinstate the bash she’d originally planned. How second-season Blair of you, Serena.

Meanwhile, Vanessa and Nate are on the rocks while Blair tries to rekindle an old flame. Vanessa and Nate have a rather yawn-worthy breakup sesh, and Blair seems set on getting Nate… or is she really just set on getting someone a bit safer than Chuck? This leads to Vanessa allowing her own integrity to plummet, when she snogs the ever-ready Chuck to make both Nate and Blair jealous at Jenny’s big bash. I loved when Nate called V out on succumbing to Blair’s old games.

Blair herself has a childish scene in which she throws Nate on the bed and insists that he’s not leaving until they figure out if they are just friends or not. I mean, yes, throwing Chace Crawford on a bed is every girl’s dream, but who comes up with lines like that? Blair is the creme de la creme, yet she’s suddenly chasing her ex like an attention-starved puppy. WTF, B? You’re better than that!

Now, as any GG fan knows, every episode revolves around some sort of shindig. Last night, Jenny’s 16th was the big soiree. And last night was also the first night that the party actually looked like a high school bash. And by high school bash, I mean cheap keg party, which sends Poppy packing (apparently socialistas frown upon table dancing and unprotected sex in neighboring bedrooms?) Feeling bad for Serena’s awful life, she later invites S to Spain for the week. Because that’s always my solution to drunk girls table dancing at my friend’s house.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Did anyone else feel bad for Jenny when both the Van der Woodsen AND Humphrey clans ganged up on Jenny on her own bday? Even Eric! Yeesh.

So basically, Serena acted like an attention whore, Jenny rebelled by inviting the entire freshman class, and Blair pursued Nate like an insecure tween. With several random plot lines scattered in between (apparently the supposedly dead illegitimate son of Lily and Rufus is trying to reach out to Dan. What?!).

Because I am a tried and true Chuck Bass fan, I have to say I like where the Vanessa-Chuck subplot is going. They clearly had some chemistry at the beginning of the season, and now they are putting up fronts to find excuses to shack up. Now THIS is the juice I love in my GG eps! For real- when Vanessa was trying to sneak out and told Chuck that “last night didnt’ happen,” Chuck replied with,”Then neither did this,” and gave her a passionate, morning-breath smooch. They are so falling in love.

Honestly, I thought they could have ended the ep right there, but instead they had to depict the Nate-Blair rekindling, which obviously isn’t going to work out. I think they should just rename the series, “Chuck Bass Weekly” and go from there.

Anyone else feel my sentiments? Or blatantly disagree?

Makeup for your skin.

Hilary Duff does SVU.

20 colleges worth the price.

Save money and give yourself a massage.

Dog poops money?

Octomom = Octo-stripper?

Most boring NCAA tournament ever?

The easiest way to tone those legs.

More women getting pierced…down there.

Rehab that fried hair.

There could be some little Paris Hiltons running around soon.

Once you get past the fact that the NCAA Selection Committee made the mistake of not including some of the best teams that could have been this year’s Cinderella (Arizona State instead of St. Mary’s? come on), the board actually came up with a pretty good draw. And for the next 2 weeks, I will be fully immersing myself in the insanity and awesomeness that is the most exciting sporting event of the year: March Madness.

The best conference in the country (and maybe in history) is hands-down the Big East. 3 out of the 4 number 1 seeds are from the Big East: UConn, Louisville, and Pitt. Even Barack Obama believes in the dominance of this conference, since his bracket that he filled out on Wednesday (live on ESPN! what a cool prez) shows it filling half of his Elite Eight. Although Obama didn’t have our lovely school in his Final Four, Coach K isn’t worried.

And he shouldn’t be worried either. Thursday was the big first day of the NCAA tournament, and the big seeds shined just like they were predicted to. During lunch I heard the big news of #1-seeded UNC ripping Radford to shreds in the South, winning 101-58 (42 points too many, in my opinion). The other #1-seeded UConn also came out with a deafening roar, with the Huskies winning 103-47 against Chattanooga. #2 Memphis (who I have going to the Final Four) won as well, and of course the almighty Blue Devils beat Binghamton (ha, no chance at all).

The upsets were few, but pretty significant. Both the #10′s beat both the #7′s: Maryland showed they earned their spot in the draw by crushing California, while Michigan just got by Clemson (serves them right for beating Duke once in a fluke). Editor’s Note: GO BLUE!

#12 Western Kentucky beat #5 Illinois in a shocker, which definitely messed some of my friend’s brackets up and led to some name-calling on FB statuses (but with a “hilltopper” as mascot, they’re kinda asking for it). #9 Texas A&M beat #8 Brigham Young, which was expected, but the one non-upset that got me most upset (because it ruined my otherwise perfect bracket) was #6 UCLA squeezing by #11 VA Commonwealth! The score was 65-64, in a real nail-biter of a game (seriously, you should see my nails).

Oh well, 15 out of 16 – that ain’t bad. Watching the madness ensue on our flat-screen tv in the common room – that ain’t bad. Having Super G on our team – that’s the total opposite of bad. Now, if only Ty Lawson from UNC never comes back from sitting-out due to his injury…well, that’ll just be the icing on the cake.

Tom and Katie are still married…and happy.

Rhode Island mandates domestic violence education in schools.

Sarah Palin damns us all to hell. See ya there!

Lakisha Jones (from American Idol) got married…and everyone is really excited.

Leo can’t be anything but sexy.

No more sexy time for Brad and Angelina.

God, we wish we worked at airport security right about now.

Women don’t let this recession get in our way of beauty!

Justin Bobby and LC? NO WAY!

Happy (sorta) Birthday, Miley Cyrus!

Do you experience drunk-o-vision?

Amy Winehouse’s nose says, “I QUIT!”

Ashley Simpson and Pete Wentz (fashion) emergency.

Did Joe Biden have a little work done? (We knew it!)

MTV continues to kill the music

Angelina Jolie DOES NOT AGE

Aww…Has Been’s in love!

Keep his lingerie?

Would you wear Avril?  Yeah, me neither.  But Tokyo would!

Mmmm, Kool-Aid

Sarah Palin lovvvveesss her tanning bed

Tina Fey is “sexist!”

The infamous Cat Rap

Megan Fox tells Miley and Vanessa “F*ck Disney“

Carry your “toys” in style...

My Dinner with OJ