Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote

English poet Geoffrey Chaucer devoted the last thirteen years of his life to writing The Canterbury Tales. You probably at least read excerpts of it during high school. If not, you may or may not have dodged a bullet, depending on your feelings about Middle English, adultery, organized religion, or countless other acts of foolishness.

The Canterbury Tales is about 30 people from all rungs of society, including Chaucer himself as the narrator, and their religious pilgrimage from London to Canterbury. The night before they set out, the group of pilgrims eat dinner at a Southwark tavern. In the middle of the dinner, the owner of the tavern, known as the Host, proposes that each member of the group tell stories during the pilgrimage to help pass the time. The Host states that each pilgrim is to tell four tales, two on the way to Canterbury and two on the way back to London. He decides to accompany the group and nominates himself as the judge of the tales. The pilgrim who he deems the winner is to receive a free dinner from his tavern at journey's end.

A simple calculation tells us that Chaucer intended to compose 120 tales, but died before he could complete them. His unfinished manuscript included only 24 tales. He was overly ambitious, to say the least.

I'm about to undertake an overly ambitious project of my own. The plan, starting tomorrow with the Bulls game, is to document an NBA playoff game everyday until they are no longer playing Playoff games everyday. These won't be of the boring preview/recap variety. Actually, I have no idea what they're going to entail, but they will be here. So check back in, whether occasionally or just for the Bulls games. I'm interested in the game-by-game subtleties of each series, as well as the outcome.

But before all that, here are my first round picks:

EASTERN CONFERENCE

(1) Bulls vs. (8) Pacers ---> Bulls in 4

(4) Magic vs. (5) Hawks ---> Magic in 6

(3) Celtics vs. (6) Knicks ---> Celtics in 6

(2) Heat vs. (7) Sixers ---> Heat in 5

WESTERN CONFERENCE 

(1) Spurs vs. (8) Grizzlies ---> Spurs in 5

(4) Thunder vs. (5) Nuggets ---> Thunder in 6

(3) Mavericks vs. (6) Blazers ---> Blazers in 6

(2) Lakers vs (7) Hornets ---> Lakers in 4