Welcome to the Online Tournament Pool, 2011!

Hello All,

Welcome to the 13th Annual, Online Tournament Pool.

It was Charles Dickens who wrote of March, "... when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade; when the sneaker's squeak on hardened wood, and empty brackets gleam of promise and anticipation."

It certainly is a keen time for us March Madness enthusiasts. We wait with bated breath to fill in our virginal bracket as Greg Gumbel reveals

the tournament field with agonizing theatricality on Selection Sunday. We sit for hours staring blankly at the matchups, our minds growing numb as we try to decide which 12 seed must(!) advance. We struggle desperately to come up with that perfect Final Four: a sexy combination of #1 seeds, a #2 or #3 seed, and that "out of the blue" #6 seed that will surely put your bracket over the top. We watch every second of action possible, at the expense of our work and family lives. We root gamely for every underdog, and thrill at every last minute finish. We collapse into cheerless anguish when our beloved alma mater inevitably crumbles.

Or you might fall into one of the following categories of Tourney Watchers:

1. You pick only the top seeds to advance, you spend the entirety of the tourney only rooting for the teams you picked to win, and after the Semi-Final games are played on Saturday, you look around, puzzled, and ask "Wait, so the Final Four's over right? So who won it all?Oh there's still another game? Monday?"
2. You make all your picks in 30 seconds, sending a double digit seed to the Final Four, and always pick Duke as your champ. When Duke does in fact win the Championship you automatically assume you won the whole pool.
3. You spend hours online reading the columns of sports writers and bloggers who analyze every matchup and make long winded predictions, and dutifully make notes about how Winthrop's ability to move the ball on the wings will help them neutralize Syracuse's zone trap. You fill out six different brackets and carry them around with you for the entire duration of the tournament along with a set of multi-colored highlighters. You love to smile proudly at people as you boast about having picked that #10 seed over the #7, and are certain that you're the only one who has Michigan State going to the Final Four this year.
4. You (pictured at right) steadfastly refuse to fill out a bracket, sniffing that it "Takes away from the beauty of the Tournament."

If that's your picture on the right ... enjoy your pipe but read no more.

If you fit any of the categories besides the 4th, than the OTP is for you, read on!

If you've participated in this contest in the past and have long grown weary of my overly verbose attempts at humor; first, thanks for making it this far, and second, just visit our web site: http://docgeorge.net/OTP/ sometime before noon on Thursday, March 17. Please note that currently only last year's content (picks and scores) are available for browsing.

For those more intrepid souls (or for those of you who just have time to kill) let me introduce the OTP and its rules and regs to you, Steven Wright style.

One time a cop pulled me over for running a stop sign. He said, "Didn't you see the stop sign?" I said, "Yeah, but Idon't believe everything I read."

On the other hand, you can believe everything that's written here, particularly the particulars (like that?) of the contest: It's very simple, visit the afore-linked web site, submit your picks for the 2011 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament via the handy-dandy online bracket provided, send in a $5 entry fee, and you're done!

There's a fine line between fishing and standing on the shore looking like an idiot.

Very true, and you might also be asking yourself, "what's the difference between the OTP and any number of bracket contests on the web?" Well, what about history, family, the personal touch? Historically speaking, this OTP is the very first of its kind. No exaggeration. Back in 1998, right after Al Gore invented the internet, yours truly invited friends and family alike to submit their brackets online, while the rest of the basketball-watching world was still mimeographing their entries. The OTP has also become quite the family affair, not only because many of the original participants still take part 13 years later, and many who joined at other times continue to return, but also us OTP'ers are also proliferating. Why last year alone, their were 9 different families/couples who submitted picks. In fact the Reklaitis(7) and the Martins (6) contributed 13 submissions. Join the family!

I went down the street to the 24-hour grocery. When I got there, the guy was
locking the front door. I said, "Hey, the sign says you're open 24 hours." He
said, "Yes, but not in a row."

Oh yeah, the personal touch: I'll devote myself, 24-7, to not just updating the scores, which is all the other sites will give ya, but providing you with a steady stream of consistent analysis and witticisms of all the tourney action via our delightful blog here.

If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.

There's not nearly that kind of pressure on you here. Just visit the web site (docgeorge.net/OTP), submit your picks starting Sunday (3/13) night, and enjoy!

The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

There's no prize for submitting your picks early, but you must get them in by Thursday (3/17) by noon.

If you think no one cares about you, try missing a couple payments.

Oh, right, and your entry fee of $5 is due then too. You have the option of submitting it to me via the US Postal Service, or via PayPal.

I couldn't fix your brakes, so I made your horn louder.

And again, since PayPal won't accept payments for an "illicit" activity such as the OTP, we're making an end run around that, by using "Bob's Fun Run," as a cover.

Why do psychics have to ask you for your name?

I am not a psychic, so only entries with full names attached to them will be counted.

42.7 percent of statistics are made up on the spot.

And while my scoring system (the standings are based on least points missed rather than most points accumulated) might be confusing, rest assured, they were originally designed by an actuary. And if you don't know what an actuary is, then my having mentioned it will not have assured you at all. Feel free to check out the point system in the Rules and Regs section of the site.

Last year we drove across the country...We had one cassette tape to listen to on the entire trip...I don't remember what it was.

Don't have the sharpest memory? Not to worry, all the details regarding the competition are on the web site.

Boycott shampoo! Demand the REAL poo!

And this is the real poo, I assure you. What do you do next, you ask? Visit the OTP web site (docgeorge.net/OTP), get your picks in by Thursday noon (they'll be available after the Selection Show Sunday night), and then sit back and enjoy the tourney. Make sure to visit the site often to see the picks of your competitors, view the updated standings, and read and comment on our blog. As always please share this with all who you think might enjoy participating, and let me know (docrek@gmail.com or greklaitis@brookdalecc.edu) if I can be of assistance in any way.

Enjoy the tourney everyone, and to finish off, enjoy a few last Wrightisms:

I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize.

I was sad because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet. So I said, "Got any shoes you're not using?"

I have two very rare photographs. One is a picture of Houdini locking his keys in his car. The other is a rare photograph of Norman Rockwell beating up a child.

I installed a skylight in my apartment. The people who live above me are furious!

cheers,

-gr

Butler's No Cinderella

Just another registered complaint against the stupid seeding this year. Everyone's astonishment at Butler's run to the Final Four is based, I believe, on its 5 seed. This is the time of year, where the NCAA Tournament Committee's entire re-ranking of the nation's teams completey skews our perspective of the field. Butler is a case in point. Theoretically, the top three seeds in each region should encompass the top 12 teams in the national rankings. Butler began and ended the season ranked #11. The following teams, ranked behind Butler in the final poll, were seeded higher than the Bulldogs: Georgetown (#14, 3 seed), Tennessee (#15, 4 seed), Wisconsin (#16, 4 seed), Pittsburgh (#18, 3 seed(WTF!)), Baylor (#19, 3 seed), Maryland (#19, 4 seed), Vanderbilt (#20, 4 seed) (Texas A&M, Michigan State, and Temple - all ranked below Butler, received 5 seeds as well).

Now I understand that strength of schedule is certainly a factor, but Butler played a number of ranked opponents throughout the season, and dominated the Horizon conference. Okay, okay their advancement to the Final Four can be called unexpected, but Butler's success should not be a surprise and should not be equated to the Cinderella runs of George Mason or Villanova. After all, you take down the top two seeds in your region, you deserve some props.

OTP Awards, 2010

10:25 PM Eastern Time, and I finally have the chance to sit down and get to the OTP Awards. This year's OTP Awards will feature both our competitors and those actually participating in the tourney. Seth Davis of SI.com already issued his own awards for the first two rounds. Good stuff, I managed to watch about 85% of the first two rounds, so I'm basing my awards on what I got to see (and a little youtube clip of a moment I didn't get to see). Without further ado...

Best First Round Performance Award
For the second year in a row (!) goes to Trudy McPhail who beat her own 27 of 32 performance last year with an impressive 28 of 32!

As for our on-court performers, the award goes to the wonderfully named Jimmer Fredette of BYU who smacked 37 points on Florida in a behind-the-back-scoop-layup-and-crazy-25-foot-three-pointer performance. Had this occurred in last year's tourney, I guarantee one of my 10 month old sons would be named Jimmer right now. In fact, since I'm home with the lot by myself tomorrow, a trip to the courthouse may be in order.

Best Second Round Performance:
Is captured by Pat Lynch. In spite of his choice of Richmond as a Sweet 16 participant (he does live in Virginia after all - state motto: "Virginia is for lovers."), Pat managed to navigate the troubled waters that plagued most of our participants in the second round. Well done Mr. Lynch.

On the court, there's two choices: First, the obvious: Mr. Farokhmanesh of Northern Iowa. The dude's on fire and why the hell not take a three with lots of time on the clock when you know it's money! His diminutive size just cemented the David v Goliath result even if historically this was just a biblical fallacy (yeah, that means it never happened).
#2, would be #4. The jersey worn by one Chris Kramer of Purdue (featured in the first rendition of this blog) who just decided, screw it, time to win the game. The result is feature here. I can't stop watching it...

Worst First Round Performance:
...in the OTP goes to ....Alex Mitchell. He's 5 and his parents forced him to do this so that I would still be their friend. Hopefully this does not scar the young lad too much (then again he's lived in LA, New Jersey, and Columbus, OH). Dallas Martin, on the other hand, is an adult, who should be able to handle ridicule, therefore he wins the prize with 17 of 32 correct picks.

In my opinion, worst first round performance in the Tourney goes to the refs of the Villanova-Robert Morris game. Good lord! At one point Scottie Reynolds dribbled the ball off his foot and they called a foul! Not on his foot, but on the Robert Morris player who was 2 feet away!!!!!! Hideous. Thankfully the Gaels of St. Mary's righted the karmic world with a smack down of the 'Cats.

Worst Second Round Performance:


Belongs to well Alex again, but we'll blame his parents for this, and frankly Kevin Harkin (a former OTP champion) only had one pick better than young Alex, so you Kev, our the biggest loser. 5 of 16 correct picks does not do you proud my friend. We still love our past champs though.

The Tourney award goes to the entire Kansas team, who managed to blow the best chance of any team (including Purdue with Hummel) to take the title. I'd say wait 'til next year boys, but I think your ship has sailed.

Well, I'm going to head to bed in the hopes that my boys will sleep through the night. That, unfortunately, has the same likelihood of happening as Gene Keady forgoing the comeover . Therfore, my friends, I bid you good night. Stay tuned, however, as I will encapsulate the picks of the OTP competitors in tomorrow's edition of the OTP Update. 'Nite.

Perhaps seeding is overrated?

Welcome all, again, to the 2010 OTP. Thanks for joining us for the best three weeks of the year. I apologize for the delay in launching this year's OTP Update, I encountered some technical errors (read: I forgot my blogger password). I currently write to you from the comforts of Damon's in Manalapan, NJ, accompanied by my customary March Madness buds, Paul and Jim. This year we were going to put our annual gathering on hiatus courtesy of the bushel of infants I had acquired over the past year. Fortunately, my stalwart compatriots chose to trek all the way across Middle America, chance the dangers of Jersey, and deal with a house of screaming kids, to make this annual hoops tradition a reality. Prost Freunde!

As for this year's NCAA Tourney, what fun, eh? The amount of "upsets" that the chatterboxes on the various networks continue to bloviate about, really just reflects the poor seeding job the Tournament Committee did. Gonzaga and BYU both spent nearly the entire season in the top 15 and yet were given 8 and 7 seeds respectively. Overseeded? Gee, how about Georgetown, Notre Dame, and Villanova? Oh well... great to see the overseeded get their due. On a personal note, my Boilers shocked the world by prevailing over Siena, the national, presidential, and media pick to win. My favorite part of the game, Chris Kramer bounces the ball off the face of the Siena guy, and then ... smiles at him. Loved it. The Boilers face a high task against A&M but we shall keep the faith.

The OTP is chugging along nicely too. We've got 48 total participants this year, up from 46 last year. That means this year's winner will receive all but $5 of the pot. And in the early going there's quite the battle for first. Jen Boulton started us off on Thursday with an OTP record 7 of 8 first round picks correct. Alas, her hot streak did not last into Friday's round of action. Nonetheless, "Chicks with Picks" continues to be our tournament motto (I would apologize for being un-PC but I'm pretty sure our top four female competitors don't mind.). Curtis Tronick currently holds down spot #4 but the remainder of the top 5 are of the fairer (and smarter) sex. Congrats to Trudy, Edie, and the Buono sisters (Danielle and Christina).

Enjoy the remaining second round action today and tomorrow. I'll be back Monday with the annual OTP 1st and 2nd Round awards.

best,
-gr

Final Four Breakdown

There are four teams vying for the NCAA title and four OTPers vying for the OTP title. Here's the breakdown:

1) Donna wins if UConn defeats UNC or Villanova.
So Donna's cheering for the Huskies.

2) Jimmy Baskin wins if UNC defeats MSU
So Jimmy's cheering for the Spartans and the Tar Heels.

3) Denise wins if MSU meets Villanova (champion is irrelevant) or if MSU defeats UNC.
So Denise is cheering for the Spartans and the Wildcats.

4) Papa Buono wins if UNC defeats UConn.
And Pops is cheering for the Huskies, but mainly the Tar Heels.

Good Luck to you all, and enjoy the Final 4. I'll be back tomorrow with a recap.

Et alors il y avait quatre...

Pardon my French, but Zut Alors! we finally got a few humdinger games, none more scintillating and rewarding then the 'Nova defeat of Pitt. I so wished I could have been in Pburgh for that contest, hanging out in the SportsRock Cafe as Scottie Reynolds ensured his place in the "One Shining Moment" highlights. I can hear the befuddled conversation now...

• Pittsburgh Basketball Ignoramus #1: "Shooot, why didn't we score more points!? I'm tellin' ya, if we had just scored more points we coulda won this thing!"
• Pittsburgh Basketball Ignoramus #2: "Nawww, more baskets, is what we needed! If we could have made two or three more baskets I bet we'd had a chance!"
• Pittsburgh Basketball Ignoramus #1: "Well, whatever, this darned basketedball thing was distracting me from the Penguins anyways. Playoffs start soon!"
• Pittsburgh Basketball Ignoramus #2: "Who the Steelers gonna draft?"

Now, mind you, I'm a tremendous fan of the Steel City and its denizens are generally fine folks. The town, however, is a dud as a bball town, and the only time they pay attention is when the Panthers are doing well. Even then, the Penguins often end up on the bar TV's.

Well Pitt and L'Ville's losses certainly destroyed the brackets of many. In fact nary an OTP participant manage to get the Final Four right. Kudos to Denise Monahan and Tery Baskin for being the only one out of 46 to just miss one. Tery, Jimmy, and Denise were the only pickers to have Sparty in the Final Four. And Sierra Martin and Emily Reklaitis were the only two to have Villanova in the Final Four. The fact that they are 5 years old and nearly 3 years old, respectively, demonstrates again, that this thing takes little B-Ball knowledge! Here's 'lil Em' doing her 'Nova Wildcat roar...

Who's gonna win? Well, I'll join you mid-week to give you the Final Four breakdown. Until then...

No Wake for Wake.

Bury them without a funeral, with no fanfare, in a shallow, unmarked grave in the Freddy B's parking lot across from the Joel Coliseum. Some Wake Forest fans/alumns may be dissapointed with the DD's performance last night. Some may be sad that their favorite team is out the tourney. Me, I'm just disgusted. What a horrific, "we're too good for this team," "we used to be #1," "we're looking ahead to Louisville," "defense? we don't need no stinkin' defense!," "hey! whoever gets the ball, ignore everyone else, and just try to score!" performance that was last night. I'm not dissapointed, this team has no right to advance in the tourney. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

On a side note, some of you probably caught CBS's note of trivia regarding Cleveland State. The last and only other time they were in the tourney they were also a #13 seed and they also beat the #4 seed, none other than the hated Indiana Hoosiers. Ugh! What a legacy to share. *retch*

To add insult to injury me and my fellow Wake alumn Will Davis decided to hitch our horses to the Wake wagon all the way to the final four. That's why we are the denizens of the bottom of the standings. Poor Ainsley Martin (last year's champ) had the Deacs as tourney champions. Well, hope you haven't spent all of last year's winnings yet Ms. Martin.

Two other notes about yesterday's games.

1. First, my buddies and I thoroughly enjoyed sitting in a bar in downtown Pittsburgh watching Pitt desperately try to stave off embarassment at the hands of ETSU. The other bar patrons were either thoroughly anxious or dumbfounded (huh? ya mean #1 doesn't automatically win). When Pitt finally escaped the debacle, there was a brief chorus of "Let's go Pitt!" which was quickly shushed down by the few in the bar who knew how utterly stupid that was. This is definitly a football town, and the lack of bball knowledge really makes it a shame that Pitt is actually successful. I'd much rather see an N.C. State or a Vermont succeed since they have some tradition and history behind their programs.
2. What a great way to end the evening with two great OT games featuring the Siena Saints and Badgers of UW. I think we missed a bit of those buzzer-beaters so far in the tourney.

All right, on to this year's annual OTP awards.

Best First Round Performance Award:
Goes to Trudy McPhail who nailed 27 out of 32 picks.

Best Second Round Performance Award:
Ben Kirvam, who still has ALL of his second rounders still alive! Nice work Ben.

Worst First Round Performance Award:
Is ALL MINE! For the second time in three years I have managed to take home the booby prize. Egads! And even worse, I bested my all time low mark of 2007, (of 13 missed picks) with 14. Well, you can't accuse me of cheating!

Worst Second Round Performance Award:
Doesn't leave the Reklaitis family, as it is grabbed by Christine Reklaitis with 7 missed. Ouch.

I'll be back with a look at the picks in general and an accounting of who picked who for 2009 Champion. Ciao!