'Twas bitter sweet earlier this week. Another outstanding first two rounds of the tournament gave us some fantastic action. And now the best 4 days of the year are over. However, to console you, here are the annual OTP Awards:

Best First Round Awards.

• Best Performance by OTP Participants: Steve McPhail, Aaron Lake, Anthony Buono, Andrea Guglielmo, Alex Mitchell – 27 out of 32 correct picks.
• GSU Upset Picks: Adam Stutts (age: 3), Emily Reklaitis (age: 8), Patrick Lynch (age: old),
• UAB Upset Picks: John Reklaitis (age: 5), that is all.
• Worst Overall Performance:
• Normally I would mention here that while I am happy to praise the youngsters who -cajoled by their parents - fill out brackets and actually nail some good picks (see above), I shall not ridicule them when they go far, far astray with what are essentially random predictions (although aren’t they for all of us?) This year an adult was willing to take the title of worst prognosticator, so I don’t even have to have to offer the “well, they’re just kids” caveat. Erin McManus dons the honor of worst 1st round performance after only getting half (16 of 32) of her picks correct. This saves Steve Stites from the embarrassment of receiving this award with only 14 correct picks. Granted our alma mater Northeastern came within a leprechaun’s breath of stealing a 1^st round upset.  Had NEU won, Steve would have moved up in the circles of shame.

Because of Steve’s (and others) determined sticking-to-it-ness regarding their favorite teams in the field, this year I’ve created another award: 

The Sticking with your school despite almost ridiculous odds Award. 

• I’ll give Steve first honors, as he had the Huskies not only knocking off the #3 seed but advancing to the Sweet 16 as well. Other well-intentioned but ultimately disappointed fans include:
• Alex Mitchell, son of OSU alumn Bert Mitchell, who had his Dad’s team winning it all. (For the record, Dad correctly predicted OSU going out in the 2^nd round. Throw anybody under the bus much Bert?)
• Christine Reklaitis, UVA grad, had the Hoos winning it all (and her husband’s home town team, Purdue, advancing to the Final Four). Thanks for your support Christine, and your $5.
• Emily and Luke Reklaitis who decided that since Dad loves Purdue, they do too, and therefore, Purdue shall win it all. I love them, but they essentially flushed $10 down the toilet for me.

Best First Round for NCAA Participants:

• R.J. Hunter and Father. You’ve seen it already. Watch it again:

And for good measure, a similar scenario from 10 years ago (courtesy of my friend Paul Schultz). Great sequence all around, but at the 1:04 mark is when the magic really happens.

Second Round Awards:

Best Second Round by OTP participants: Curtis Tonick and Vic Reklaitis with 12 out of 16 correct picks.

Best upset picks: 

• (I consider NC State and Wichita State advancing against a 1 and 2 seed respectively legitimate upsets, and 11 seed UCLA advancing to the Sweet 16 as well. Michigan State always makes it to the Sweet 16, not much of an upset there IMHO.) However, since 20 OTP participants picked WSU to advance, I’m afraid this is hardly an exceptional choice.
• Therefore upset awards go to the 4 folks who picked the Wolfpack’s upset of #1 seed Villanova: Adam Stutts, Emily Reklaitis, Rae Poteat, and Vic Reklaitis.

Best Second Round for NCAA Participants:

• UW’s Sam Dekker’s dunk that went in twice. Four points?! Nope 0. Still fun to watch:

Ok, that wraps it up for now. In case you missed it, I set up a Sweet 16 contest for those still interested in submitting another set of brackets. No entry fee required, just go to the online brackets as you did the first time and you will find the brackets filled up to the final 16 teams. Win and you get your entry fee back. Picks due by 6 PM, tomorrow, Thursday.

Enjoy, and thanks for playing!

Welcome to the 2015 OTP!

Greetings All.

Here it is, that annual missive that summons you to participate in our cultish ritual, known as the Online Tournament Pool. How do I know we’re in a cult? Well, the fact that you are wondering if you are in a cult right now means that yes, you’re in a cult.* But it’s a wonderful cult that is now in its 18^th year of existence! Some of you are relatively new inductees and some of you drank the Kool-Aid along time ago. For the yet uninitiated, welcome. And, don’t worry, membership into this cult does not require any bizarre suicidal rituals or potential trips on comets, only subjecting yourself to my annual attempt at witticism, submitting your predictions on the results of the 2015 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament bracket, and submitting an offering (we can call it an entry fee if that makes you feel better) of $5 US dollars. If that’s sounds like your cup of

Kool-Aid (ok I’ll stop with the suicidal references) then read on and learn how to join us! If not, read no more and enjoy your own Pagan rituals this spring.  (Actually it’s too late, we’re coming for you.)

Eighteen years ago I had a dream about creating the first entirely online NCAA Tournament Pool. I had many other dreams about what I would do as I grew up, but thankfully dreams can change. If we’d all stuck with our first dream, the world would be overrun with cowboys and princesses.* Up to this point NCAA pools were conducted on mimeographed brackets from the local newspaper, and many loved smelling the recently Xeroxed forms while others enjoyed the camaraderie of physically handing in their paper brackets and their entry fees in person. Some questioned my idea. Some thought I was flat out wrong. But, if I had a dime for every time I was wrong, I would be broke.* And so the OTP (which has since been copied by many but exceeded by none) continues to thrive almost 2 decades later.

There’s an old saying about those who forget history. I don’t remember it, but it’s good.* Likewise it might be likely that even for those of you long-standing participants of the OTP, you have forgotten how this works. Well no worries, I’m here to give you the truth, ‘cus as they say, the only people who tell the truth are drunkards and children. Guess which one I am.*

1. Visit http://docgeorge.net/OTP
2. Check out the “Rules and Regs” and make your picks via the “Online Brackets” link by Thursday, 3/19 at Noon.
3. Please pay your $5 via PayPal or snail mail: 141 Lexington Circle, Matawan, NJ 07747.
4. Sit back and enjoy.

Simple right? And while some might say there is no upper limit to stupidity*, pretty sure this one we can all figure out.

“Ok,” you might be thinking, “seems simple enough, but this basketball stuff seems silly, shouldn’t we be focusing on more important things impacting our lives as Americans like our nation’s foreign policy or domestic issues like abortion?” First off, I can’t stand people who disagree with me on the issue of Roe v. Wade…which, I believe is about the proper way to cross a lake.* Furthermore, if our Founding Fathers wanted us to care about the rest of the world, they wouldn’t have declared their independence from it.* If you’re not interested in spending three weeks watching exhilarating basketball and partaking in the wonder that is the OTP, than I suggest you just stay home and burn a good book.* Otherwise, check out our site, make those picks by Thursday at noon, and just remember, an apple a day keeps anyone away ... if you throw it hard enough.

Finally, now that the brackets are out, a few early thoughts:

• Thanks Committee, Purdue as a 9 seed to (potentially) face Kentucky in the 2^nd round? I’d rather we were one of the play-in games. But, as the saying goes, “don’t cry over spilled milk. By this time tomorrow, it will be free yogurt.”*
•  Dayton gets to play in Dayton? Seems a bit unfair. Quick fact about Ohio: 22 astronauts hail from the Buckeye/Flyers state. What is it about Ohio that makes people want to flee the planet?*
• We now know the Committee enjoys a bit of irony. North Carolina vs. Harvard: one school that doesn’t even offer athletic scholarships vs. one that doesn’t require its “scholar-athletes” to even earn them academically. Proving once and for all that the pen is mightier than the sword, provided you shoot the pen out of a gun.*

      That's all I got for now. I'll be back later this week for further frivolity. In the meantime, the brackets are live, so start picking, and if you have any questions just send them my way: docrek@gmail.com. (*comedic references plagiarized from Stephen Colbert)