Day 1 Update
Greetings and Salutations, Good People of the Pool:
If you are receiving this Email, and I sure hope you are, congratulations for making a successful entry into Jabin’s March Madness Charity Pool! You know our slogan, say it with me, “Hands down the best March Madness Charity Pool run by a guy named Jabin on the interwebs.” But that’s just my opinion….
Anyhoo, we are off and running after a wonderful Thursday of hoops in the opening round. Lots of exciting action all day, capped off by a terrific Michigan-UC San Diego late night game that saw the Wolverines hang on. Top seeds Houston (Midwest) and Auburn (South) won by 38 and 20, respectively, and St. John’s won by 30. Meanwhile, McNeese State and Drake had the biggest upsets of the day, as 12 seed McNeese dispatched Clemson, and 11-seed Drake upset Mizzou.
At the end of an entertaining Day 1, we have a three-way tie atop the standings of Jabin’s March Madness Charity Pool. Three players – Garrett Wilson, Lpansini, and Greta the Dog all missed just one pick and sit atop the standings at 15 points. It gets crowded after that, as seven players – Drift, CJDJ, Full Metal Bracket, JonStein2, Duke is Back, DeaconDarlin’, and MamaBruce are one point back at 14. So much more basketball to play, and Game 1 Rounds on Friday are also worth 1 point each. Full standings are available at the site.
ACC? More like “ACK!”
As pool veterans know I’m ride or die with the ACC, but this is a tough year. My Demon Deacons spit the bit down the stretch, and only 4 teams from the conference made the dance (I will spare you the commentary on the UNC Athletic Director, head of the selection committee, recusing himself while they advanced UNC to the “Last 4 in.”) Whatevs, sour grapes, and my boys lost to UNC in the ACC Tournament, so not much I can say.. Anyway, both Louisville and Clemson had early exits from the tournament in Thursday’s first round, leaving Carolina and Duke carrying the ACC torch. Ouch. Meanwhile, the $EC had a record-breaking 14 teams (out of the conference’s 16) make the Big Dance. It’s almost like the schools with the most money are better at sports. Hmm…
Our Donation
We’re off to a great start on the pool donation. The pot stands at $2,146 as of Thursday night, which is just fantastic. Thank you to everyone for the donations so far! If you haven’t donated yet, why not head to the GoFundMe Page and take care of business?
Who told Seth Davis he could do impressions?
Did you catch Seth Davis doing a “Braveheart” impression while holding a UC San Diego triton? So many questions. First of all, did he think that they carried tritons (tridents) at the Battle of Stirling? If not, what was with the Scottish accent? I’m not sure what was going on there, but I look forward to his analysis on Friday in a “Groundskeeper Wilie” voice. Yikes!
What’s in a name?
As veterans of the pool know, one of my favorite parts of this whole thing is the creativity of you wonderful people in naming your brackets. So I thought it would be a good idea to hand out some awards for some of the best bracket “creativity.” I’ve got a call into Conan O’Brien to host the awards show, but in the meantime, here are the nominees:
BEST SCHOOL LOYALTY: GatorCxck, CarolinaGirl, Duke is Back, Cinnagator, Foghorn Longhorn, , GO Gators, No Class Tarheel, Screaming Deacons, Dribblin’ Deac, Deacon Darling, , GeorgiaGirl, MakeUNCGreatAgain, Where is UVa, and DAWGSRULE.
VILLANOVA SUB-GENRE (They fired Coach Kyle Neptune after missing the tournament, again). Marshall 4 Nova, NoNova, NovaGuy1, Neptune’s Pizza, depressed Nova fan, Neptune’s Army(of 1), Inept-une.
OBSCURE SPORTS REFERENCE HALL OF FAME: Guido Merkens, Thanks Joe Schoen (Schoen is the Giants’ GM who let Saquon sign with the World Champion Philadelphia Eagles). I love him.
?????????: My Bubble Itches, Barack O’Duke, Guvner of 51st State.
BEST “GAME OF THRONES” REFERENCE: House Bracketheon.
And last but not least, my personal fave…
MOST CREATIVE MOVIE REFERENCE: Full Metal Bracket, Jake and Ellwood, Dribble Me This Batman.
SUB-CATEGORY: BEST TRADING PLACES REFERENCE: Constance Fry, Pork Belly Predictions, Billy Ray Valentine.
OK, so Day 1 is in the books, and as I always say, still lots of round ball in front of us. Get some sleep, hydrate, and let’s get back out there (figuratively) on Friday!
Yours in hoops,
Jabin