We are all champions

Or so I am telling myself as I ended up pretty much at the bottom of the only pool I entered this year. On the other hand, I went to both the semifinal games and the final game on Monday night thanks to one of my college roommates who works at the NCAA. I tried my best to cheer Butler on to their first championship to no avail, but had fun nonetheless.

Congrats to the pool winners!

P.S. I am Chris and Jonathan's cousin wearing my team colors on the left.

This is the end. My little friend, the end...

Have I ever mentioned that I hate, hate, hate The Doors? (My otherwise sensible brother Jonathan loves them. He's just wrong. The Doors story: I'm drunk, I'm nobody. I'm drunk, I'm famous. I'm drunk, I'm dead. Yawn.) Anyway, on to the hoop...

Sad, now, that the tourney is over, it's time to wrap up. First, big congrats go to Matthew Peterson, The (New) Sage of Ithaca and Soon To Be Sage of Pittsburgh. That's some title, man, but you've earned it. Matt more or less lapped the field, with the rest of us straggling behind. And who, you ask, are those stragglers? Well, tied for second place are England Bill (and John Ford Coley, 'member those weasels, oldsters?) and Her Grace, Agnes Coyla Jackson. Bill is a past champ, so ending up at or near the top is nothing new for him, but this is Acy's best showing ever, I think. She's busy tonight, as it's the opening night of Romeo and Juliet (where Acy is the Nurse and Tybalt - I'm not kidding here). We'll celebrate her house championship (she killed Maggi, Alexander and me) in some appropriate way. What are the Rambeau Petersons planning to celebrate their Duke-like dynasty? And across the pond, will Bill be wearing ermine and carrying a scepter for his second place finish? Stay tuned to find out.

Now on to the accounting. Below is the final chart, filled with numbers that might or might not be accurate. Below that find a chart showing, well, nothing really, but does demonstrate my ability to make a chart in Excel.

Congrats to the top of the pile, and for the rest of us, a renewed vow to get them next year, eh?

with thoughts turning to baseball,

I remain,

Yours

Who has picked whom?

Gang,

We're winding it up here. Not many of us have any picks left at all. I don't mean to throw spoilers at you all, but Our Own Matt Peterson, The JFK of the Pool, has already clinched the victory. Congrats to you, Matthew. The championship is therefore going to the Rambeau/Peterson home for the second straight year; you'll recall that Sophie Mac walked away with it last year. These people are pushing the Prown/Coleman clan for the right to be considered the best family of pickers. Maybe that's a good side bet, who gets to wear the Von Trapp Family crown. The Jackson/Knotts are waaaayyy down the list.

Going into the last three games, I thought you might like to see who has picked whom in the Final Four and Championship games. Live picks are in red. Note, by the way, that Acy is the one one of us who has a Champion pick left standing, Duke. Out of 27 Poolies, 26 of us have no chance of getting the champ right. I can't ever remember that happening before, but I also can't remember where I left my shoes, so maybe that's not such a big deal.

Here's the chart, for those playing along at home. [cricket sounds here].

Later, dudes and dudettes.

xoxoxoxoxox,

C