Leaderboard Link for the guy who doesn't know how to bookmark
Sunday Pick Form for the few of you still picking
Twas the night before Easter and all through the pool, not a creature was stirring, not even the fool. The selections were made on the pick form with care, it hopes that some 2 seed would still be there....
This is what this devolves into at this point in the Tournament. I know the few of you still alive are only giving this a cursory glance at this point. The opening weekend effort just isn't there any more. The wit gets duller, the links get less relevant, and some other thing probably happens too, but I can't think of what it might be.
In a lot of ways this is shaping up to be the exact opposite of every tournament ever. The teams that always choke, the Villanova's, and Notre Dame's, and Virginia's are still around. The teams that always seem to make runs either got sent home early or decided to stay home and study hard because basketball isn't the most important thing in life, right?
Meanwhile, the past two days have shown us that the best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray. So many of us felt so smart a few days ago. Everyone seemed to be cruising along picking winners. The pool was like perforing like a legit fortune teller, the hive mind just picking winners once after another. And then Syracuse made that come back and blew everything up. The people that avoided it were faced with a difficult choice: Pick a very tough Oregon v Oklahoma match-up, or roll the dice on Kansas v Villanova.
It seems like a lot of our scions of holiness had been working toward a Kansas v Oklahoma Final 4. They were half right.
Tonight's match-up between Oklahoma and Oregon attracted 31 of the 49 picks. Of those, 18 went on Oklahoma while Oregon was selected by 13 sad pandas. It was never really in doubt. Buddy Hield just crushed the dreams of the Ducks and those who aligned themselves with the Church of Phil Knight.
Meanwhile Villanova v Kansas drew just seven selections: six on Villanova and silverfox all alone on Kansas Island. Silverfox will be remaining on that lonely island as their Survivor Pool dreams have been dashed like so many before them.
Heading into Sunday we are down to just 25 warriors for redemption. Last year at this point we had 39 alive, so the past two days have taken us from well ahead of last year's pace, to now falling behind it. Maybe we aren't so smart after all. Meanwhile, the leaderboard remains the same with Alvin and the Chipmunks! (I love that we get such a cute name in a survivor pool) and Steve Fiscus (also a cute name) on top of the tie breaker standings with 47 points.
To those still alive, we wish you good fortune, for those who are no longer around we wish that you find peace in this hour of darkness, and for those about to rock, we salute you.
Saturday, March 26, 2016
Friday, March 25, 2016
Payout Info & Day 6 Recap - Boom Goes the Dynamite
Leaderboard Link again, because I think you're super lazy
Saturday Pick Form Deadline is 6:09 Eastern (the real timezone) tomorrow.
Up First, Payout Info:
1st - $2,300
2nd - $1,250
3rd - $650
4th - $400
5th - $300
6th - $200
7th - $97.36 (someone screwed up their PayPal payment.....)
Onto the recap...
Well ladies, gentlemen, and various others that don't fit neatly into either of those categories, we have officially gone beyond the midpoint of our lovely little adventure through the jungle that we fondly refer to as the NCAA Tournament. Six days are down, and just four remain standing between you and Survivor Pool Immortality. Will you be the master of the universe? Will you be the champion of champions? Will your cuisine reign supreme?
I feel at this point I need to disclose a dirty little secret. We said that we run this pool because we enjoy participating and we enjoy running it. Those are somewhat true, but you may have also noticed some ads have been popping up on the blog over the last few weeks. It does bring me some level of shame to admit that yes, we have officially sold out. What was once a pool we ran for the love of the game has become as cheap and tawdry as so many other great businesses that came before it. I feel it is only right to let you know that, through tricking you to come to our blog over multiple days, we have been able to rack up $2.33 worth of sweet, sweet, ad revenue. We always said the money wouldn't change us, but I did see Philip shopping for something on Amazon last week...
The early games saw Virginia v Iowa State and Wisconsin v Notre Dame. As expected, most everyone opted to save Virginia for a rainy day, and no on was brave (or stupid) enough to try their luck with Iowa State. But, all of you little girls that felt discretion was the better part of valor turned out to be correct. The four of you that used Virginia moved on...but, at what cost?
I really expected Notre Dame v Wisconsin would be a very contentious pick. I thought the breakdown here would be in the neighborhood of even. I thought it would probably lean slightly to Notre Dame. But, instead I was wrong (s usual) and Notre Dame was an overwhelming favorite with 28 picks compared to just nine on Wisconsin. Of course, as with virtually every other game in this tournament, our basketball selecting think tank was dead on. Really, why don't we all just submit picks to every game, bet money lines on who the crowd selects, and retire to Grenada. Why Grenada? Because I was going to put Turks and Caicos, but I didn't know how to spell it, and I still don't know how to pronounce it. That would work, right? This group is never horribly wrong!!! (Foreshadowing.....)
Apparently those that chose Wisconsin forgot about this secret I revealed a few days ago about Notre Dame: at that point it became clear that Notre Dame truly does own an actual leprechaun that they have tied to a post in their locker room granting them wishes. I dare you to deny that claim after tonight's comeback.
The late games would surely bring more of the same, right? The majority has been right all post season. The overwhelmingly popular pick was Gonzaga. It's unusual to get an 11 seed as a 4 point favorite in the Sweet 16...it was an offer many of our tiny buffalo children were unable to refuse. The Zags seemed to be cruising, our 51 participants were smiling, they were putting their children to bed, they were laughing, they were living....
AND, BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE!
We knew it would happen eventually. At some point in time the right pick goes horribly wrong. In one fell swoop we lost over half of the remaining living souls.
UNC v Indiana didn't matter.
Good luck tomorrow everyone (much less everyone than yesterday), shit has officially gotten real.
Saturday Pick Form Deadline is 6:09 Eastern (the real timezone) tomorrow.
Up First, Payout Info:
1st - $2,300
2nd - $1,250
3rd - $650
4th - $400
5th - $300
6th - $200
7th - $97.36 (someone screwed up their PayPal payment.....)
Onto the recap...
Well ladies, gentlemen, and various others that don't fit neatly into either of those categories, we have officially gone beyond the midpoint of our lovely little adventure through the jungle that we fondly refer to as the NCAA Tournament. Six days are down, and just four remain standing between you and Survivor Pool Immortality. Will you be the master of the universe? Will you be the champion of champions? Will your cuisine reign supreme?
I feel at this point I need to disclose a dirty little secret. We said that we run this pool because we enjoy participating and we enjoy running it. Those are somewhat true, but you may have also noticed some ads have been popping up on the blog over the last few weeks. It does bring me some level of shame to admit that yes, we have officially sold out. What was once a pool we ran for the love of the game has become as cheap and tawdry as so many other great businesses that came before it. I feel it is only right to let you know that, through tricking you to come to our blog over multiple days, we have been able to rack up $2.33 worth of sweet, sweet, ad revenue. We always said the money wouldn't change us, but I did see Philip shopping for something on Amazon last week...
The early games saw Virginia v Iowa State and Wisconsin v Notre Dame. As expected, most everyone opted to save Virginia for a rainy day, and no on was brave (or stupid) enough to try their luck with Iowa State. But, all of you little girls that felt discretion was the better part of valor turned out to be correct. The four of you that used Virginia moved on...but, at what cost?
I really expected Notre Dame v Wisconsin would be a very contentious pick. I thought the breakdown here would be in the neighborhood of even. I thought it would probably lean slightly to Notre Dame. But, instead I was wrong (s usual) and Notre Dame was an overwhelming favorite with 28 picks compared to just nine on Wisconsin. Of course, as with virtually every other game in this tournament, our basketball selecting think tank was dead on. Really, why don't we all just submit picks to every game, bet money lines on who the crowd selects, and retire to Grenada. Why Grenada? Because I was going to put Turks and Caicos, but I didn't know how to spell it, and I still don't know how to pronounce it. That would work, right? This group is never horribly wrong!!! (Foreshadowing.....)
Apparently those that chose Wisconsin forgot about this secret I revealed a few days ago about Notre Dame: at that point it became clear that Notre Dame truly does own an actual leprechaun that they have tied to a post in their locker room granting them wishes. I dare you to deny that claim after tonight's comeback.
The late games would surely bring more of the same, right? The majority has been right all post season. The overwhelmingly popular pick was Gonzaga. It's unusual to get an 11 seed as a 4 point favorite in the Sweet 16...it was an offer many of our tiny buffalo children were unable to refuse. The Zags seemed to be cruising, our 51 participants were smiling, they were putting their children to bed, they were laughing, they were living....
AND, BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE!
We knew it would happen eventually. At some point in time the right pick goes horribly wrong. In one fell swoop we lost over half of the remaining living souls.
UNC v Indiana didn't matter.
Good luck tomorrow everyone (much less everyone than yesterday), shit has officially gotten real.
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