Stylist is mad about March Madness

MEQUON -- There are bound to be some hair-raising games in this year's NCAA college basketball tournament, and that's just the way a local woman wants it. She does March Madness with style!

At Erik of Norway Salon and Spa in Mequon, you would expect to find a focus on cosmetology, but depending upon who's chair you're in, you might also get some "bracketology."

B.J. Rademann gets pretty fired up about the NCAA Tournament every March. "We talk about basketball, whether they want to or not. It is Christmas and my birthday put together, and I am a girl, so that is huge!" Rademann said.

The appointment book at Erik of Norway is pretty full, and that's certainly true in Rademann's case. She's been in cosmetology a long time and has a full client list, but this week, her schedule is cleared. "Every year, I take off work. I don't work during March Madness. It's in the contract," Rademann said with a laugh.

Like any true tournament fan, Rademann fills out a bracket - one bracket, out of the newspaper, old school style. "(My bracket) is never not on my side. Ever. Through the whole thing. By the end of March Madness, it will be falling apart and I will have tape holding it together," Rademann said.

Rademann is no homer - neither Marquette nor Wisconsin make much of a run this year on her bracket. She isn't counting on Cinderella either. "Definitely have Kentucky taking it. Final Four is Kentucky, Syracuse, Missouri and Georgetown, so I have two number two seeds in there too," Rademann said.

They are one of her favorite teams, but why the Wildcats to win it all? "Nobody can touch them. I think defensively, that is by far, the best team," Rademann said.

Rademann knows her stuff and at this point, so do a lot of her clients. "They know me. We will be talking about (basketball)," Rademann said.

Rademann says she holds onto her brackets every year, and can go back through the years when she got a lot of picks right, and even the years when she wasn't so accurate.