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

With the Final Four all set...

Volks,

So, we've played 60 of our 63 games. I'm out, as are a bunch of us, but it's still Matt Peterson who leads, despite his grieving over the Cornell exit. Matt, Bill, Ruth, that's the Big Three. Dutch DeWitt and I will be out over the next few days with some fascinating info (like who has chosen whom in the Final Four) but until then, here are the standings:



Talk to you all soonish.

Cheers,

Co-M

Sunday's picks

Well, I have no more teams in the tournament, so from this point forward, I am performing services pro bono. You're welcome.

Here are tomorrow's picks:


5. Michigan State - Nobody [cricket sounds here]
6. Tennessee - My boy, Alexander, the budding hoop genius
-----------------------------------------------------------------
1. Kansas - thousands of us
3. Georgetown - Acy, Harry, Rosalie, Matt
2. Ohio State - Jonathan, Dana
4. Maryland - Liz


1. Duke - Acy, Bill, Steve, Dykes, Willow, Sarah P, Rosalie, John, Matt, Gena
3. Baylor - Tim, Dana, Cal
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Villanova - Knott, Maggi, Sarah B, Ruth, Harry, Mike, Scott, Dutch, Kate
5. Texas A&M - Alexander
4. Purdue - Dayle, Jonathan, Liz
7. Richmond - Henry


Safe pooling tomorrow.

G'night.

C

OK, now where are we?

Gang,

So, only my brother got the 4 points for the Butler win, and only Maggi (boo, hiss), Ruth, Dykes, Cal, Rosalie and Matt picked the West Virginia game correctly. I would've bet a lot that Kentucky was going to win that game, but that just shows you how little I know. About everything.

Here's where we stand:



Good luck tomorrow, everyone.

Sleepily,

CAK

Is it just me...

or does Huggins look like he's one of the lesser known Baldwin Brothers? You know, like, Zeppo.

Jonathan! Jonathan! Jonathan!

All of you out there without a brother who was the only one in the pool to pick the Butler win right, well, you can go pound sand. I have one, my bro, Jonathan, who got Butler right. So, J, dish, man, what did you see? What led you to make this gutsy choice? Surely it couldn't be hurried indifference and distracted guesswork...could it? Nah. We're all waiting to hear the secret.

Congrats, mein bruder.

Getting tired...

of seeing all those overweight baggage handlers. Not a good advertisement for the Southwest Airlines wellness program.

Saturday picks

Folks,

Only two games today. Feels like it's all winding down too soon. I don't see any way I can win, so my attention has already drifted to something else. I'm like that, I guess. Still, I'll be watching every second of televised hoop today I can get away with. We'll see how much that amounts to.

Here are today's picks:


5. Butler - Jonathan
2. K. St. - Knott, Dayle, Bill, Sarah B., Mike, Cal, John, Gena
-------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Syracuse - Maggi, Alexander, Ruth, Steve, Scott, Henry, Dutch, Kate, Willow, Sarah P.
8. Gonzaga - Acy
3. Pitt - Tim, Dana, Liz
7. BYU - Harry, Dykes, Matt
4. Vandy - Rosalie


1. Kentucky - everybody else
2. WVU* - Maggi, Ruth, Dykes, Cal, Rosalie, Matt
-------------------------------------------------------------------
9. Wake Forest - Acy
5. Temple - Dana
4. Wisconsin - Steve
6. Marquette - Harry
3. New Mexico** - Liz, Sarah P


Good luck out there.

CoMeister


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* People who picked West Virginia should expect a phone call from Steve, in which he will explain Bob Huggins's ability to coach teams to wins in the big games.
** People who picked New Mexico should expect a phone call from me, in which I will explain what a no-talent greasy weasel Steve Alford is.

Round 3, Day 2 results and standings

Various and Sundry,

Gee, what a wild Friday night. Maggi and I missed the games, because we were out seeing the Punch Brothers. If you've never seen them or heard them, they're awesome. More to the point, though, is that the two of us went somewhere together, and without offspring, for the first time in two or three centuries. Anyway, all we got were the final scores, really. It could've gone better for me and for the Big 10, but what else is new?

Well over half of us picked Duke to beat Purdue, although most of us were holding our collective noses. Only Bill, Tim, Dana, Cal, Sarah P. and Matt got the Baylor game right. Nobody picked Michigan State to win last night. And in the really kooky game, only Liz and Alexander picked Tennessee to get this far. I know why Alexander picked them; he thought the word "Tennessee" is funny, and likes saying it out loud. And Liz? Well, I'm not sure. What's the thought process, Ms. Rambeau? Care to let us in on your secret?

Below are the standings. Matt continues to leave, with Bill nipping at his heels. Lots of us are down to only a couple of teams left in, so there may not be a ton of movement out there. Here's where we stand:



Saturday picks coming soon.

xoxox,

C

No joy in Mudville

With 34 seconds left looks like the sweet sixteen is as far as we go. Good fun though.

bloggerific!

Thanks for the awesome reporting, Liz!! Those Cornell cool cats were very spunky compared to the 7 foot tall Kentuckians...

Tonight's picks

So, who's chosen whom tonight? I know you're just dying to know, so here 'tis. Enjoy.


1. Duke - Everybody else
4. Purdue - Maggi, Dayle, Jonathan, Dana, Liz
------------------------------------------------
5. TX A&M - Alexander, Sarah B. Cal
12. Utah St. - Harry


3. Baylor - Bill, Tim, Dana, Cal, Sarah P., Matt
10. St. Mary's - Nobody
--------------------------------------------------
2. Villanova - Everybody else
6. Notre Dame - Alexander
7. Richmond - Henry


9. UNI - Nobody
5. Michigan State - Nobody
--------------------------------
1. Kansas - Just about everyone, except...
12. N. Mexico St. - Alexander, Harry, Rosalie
4. Maryland - Liz


6. Tennessee - Alexander, Liz
2. Ohio St. - Dayle, Jonathan, Dana, Dutch, Kate, Willow, Sarah P., John, Gena
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Georgetown - Everybody else
7. Oklahoma St. - Cal, Henry


There, now you can keep score at home if you'd like. Let's all have a safe Round Three, Day 2 out there. Tonight's games are all worth three points, by the way.

Cheers,

CPM (co-poolmeister)

Thursday results and standings

Dear ones,

Seems like it's been all trauma up to this point: Kansas, Cornell, no Iowa. You know, catastrophes. That said, everyone is bunched up together, poolwise, and since our teams have all lost, perhaps we'll wind up that way, too.

Here's where we are at the moment:

The crowd was very red. Here we are after drying off. You can see that Matt does not have a CU shirt; instead he was wearing a shirt from Fat Matt's bbq in Atlanta (Thank you Katie Abbott!)

And that's it for my "oddball blogging." It was fun, but I must say watching basketball on the telly is more comfy and understandable. Also cheaper (although cornell messed up the ticketing so badly that our seats were free). Next year.... go pitt??

Light of Day

Got home at 2:30 this morning. Ithaca, being Ithaca, was lightly shrouded in snow. Up to get kids off to school by 7:45, UGH. Ben was astonished to learn that yes, the other guys were taller than Jeff Foote. All of them were taller than Jeff Foote. When he goes to CU basketball games at home Ben likes to sit in the front row and be in on the huddle (last game his friend Peter had his arm around Foote, in on the play).

Oh, Petersons and Rambeaux, we're all sorry

The Big Red did themselves proud, but tonight wasn't the night. Condolences.

8:19 2nd

38-30. Red having a good run chairs on the court. Red needs to stay loose. Nothing to Lose. My friend patty just texted to see if I like steves suit. That is a very patty thing to ask at this point in the game. Think it's turning around. Ryan whittman has 3 fouls which is bad but they are starting to hit their 3 s.

Half

Strategy for 2 nd half: legionnaires disease.