Saturday, March 19, 2011
LEADER OF THE FREE WORLD: Of the nearly six million submissions in ESPN's bracket contest, President Obama is in 492nd place (top .0083%) with 29/32 correct so far and only one Sweet 16 team eliminated (Louisville). There are no perfect brackets remaining, and only nineteen entrants with 31/32 in the first round.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Yahoo's Dan Wetzel wrote a column discussing Obama's picking prowess (he apparently is a true conservative in at least one respect) this morning.
ReplyDeletehttp://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news;_ylt=ArZpmVoQwYrw9Oa9CvdOjCLevbYF?slug=dw-wetzel_president_proves_to_be_hoops_guru_031811
I'm not good at 25/32 in my ESPN bracket (nothing hugely bad, since i got hit by the same Richmond and Morehead St upsets as almost everyone else, so I only have Louisville out in the 16 as well.) My Yahoo brackets are about the same, at 25 and 24 out of 32. Only 20 points behind in My Chicagoist pool though; best entry there was 27/32.
ReplyDeleteThe man *does* have the entire U.S. intelligence apparatus at his disposal...
ReplyDeleteI'm just nervous that he has Libya upsetting the U.N. in the 15/2 matchup.
ReplyDeleteI'm tied with President Obama at the moment, and should VCU topple Purdue I'll be ahead of him. On top of that, should Ohio State beat Butler in the finale, I think I might win the whole damn thing.
ReplyDeleteNever done this well before, I guess taking 3 minutes and absentmindedly doing just a single bracket on my iPhone right after selection Sunday was the key to success that had been eluding me all these years.
As an aside, I've been finding the games themselves nearly unwatchable. When did college hoops get so terrible? If the poor coaching doesn't get you down, then the horrendous decision making on the floor might do it, and if that wasn't enough, you have wildly inconsistent officiating to really suck all the joy out of the proceedings.
ReplyDeleteThe one and done rule the NBA instituted seems to have hurt rather than helped NCAA basketball. A two year rule might help, but that's a lot to ask, maybe if the NCAA allowed teams to draft incoming freshman, pay them (and the schools they play for) while they hone their skills, both would benefit.
College teams would have players with a bigger investment in their team and school than just showcasing their individual talent for pro scouts, and pro teams could let their younger players get time on the floor at a semi-elite (but not NBA) level while getting paid.
It's beyond corrupt that top level schools gain significant financial benefits on the backs of players who are forced to defer their own rewards because of some arcane fiction about college athletes being amateur student/athletes. This fiction leads to all sorts of shenanigans, when the pro sports (NBA, NFL) that use these schools as their minor leagues should help fund it, and the athletes that make it happen ought to be able to earn money based on their skills.
I expect part of the reason that the games seem more terrible this year than last is that CBS is no longer doing the "jump around" coverage in the first two rounds (despite their branding efforts, no, the first four games are not "Round 1"), but instead airing games in their entirety, so they have to stick with a blowout or uninteresting game rather than jumping over to another game.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Matt- we get stuck with blowouts rather than watching exciting games. The Michigan game (where Duke happened to win) was pretty good.
ReplyDeleteI'm doing ok in both of my brackets- Pitt really effed me.
Bad at foreign policy (at least), great at bracketeering. Awesome
ReplyDeleteNot here. We've tried to maintain a No Politics rule as much as possible, and it helps keep the peace.
ReplyDelete