On Saturday afternoon — warmish, hesitantly sunny, and as nice a weekend day as New York had seen in a few weeks — I found myself watching Albany and Vermont go front-rimmed jumper for front-rimmed jumper in the America East Conference final. If anyone had asked me why I was doing this — and it’s a reasonable question — I would have 1) been embarrassed, because I was watching the America East final and 2) probably said, “research.” Research, that is, for this: the First Annual CSTBracket.

Or, if you prefer it without the pomp: click that link to get to a free-entry private Yahoo Sports basketball bracket. I’m presuming you have a Yahoo account, of course, but that’s free, too, if you don’t. There’s no jackpot — unless Gerard wants to send a CSTB Performance Fleece from the CSTB Swag Shoppe out to the winner — but it’s free of cost and consequence, and should be fun. The League ID, which you’ll need in order to join, is 66728. The password is “cstb.” The rest is up to you. I’d recommend not picking Albany to win a game.