20070317

Hurley (R) attempts to oust the Commissioner
of the Chariot Pool, circa 44 BC

The Great American
March Madness
NCAA Basketball Pool

Et tu, Hurley? Et tu?
Rookie "Brutus" seen at
center of pool power play

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Patrick Sinnard
Tony Paolucci (2)
Deb McGuigan
Francis McGurrin (2)
Ian McLean
Jon Harris (2)
Mark 'Senor' Braun
Mookie (2)
Nick Klein
Nora Dennehy
Bob Bousquet (2)
Sean 'Purple' Hayes (2)
Sean "Purple' Hayes (3)

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I'm sure Angie will claim THIS ONE is hers

GAMM XV was rocked by scandal early yesterday as rumors began to spread of a move to oust the Commissioner from the seat of power he's occupied for the past 15 years. Anonymous sources within the administration have confirmed for us last evening that the person behind this

apparent "coup de tat" is none other than rookie participant "Surly" Tom Hurley. Hurley, as participants are aware, made inflammatory and disparaging comments against the Emperor ... er, I mean Commissioner, in the form of a mass email to the pool on Thursday (something about 'how much do I have to pay not to hear his dribble?'). Further, there have been reports of Mr. Hurley openly fomenting rebellion against the Commish. Treason has a name, and it's "Tom Hurley".

While Hurley may well be a rookie in our pool, he is by no means a spring chicken (some would describe him as more of a 'lame duck') or a stranger to the rough and tumble world of office pools. After a little digging, our team of pool investigators has discovered a history of attempts at usurping the power of the various pool commissioners he has known.

We're onto your game, Mr. Hurley. You can't retire fast enough for me. You cad.

Okay, enough about him. Back to basketball. Well, the first round is kaput and day two was clearly more exciting then day one as numerous games went down to the

wire, including several that saw major second half comebacks. In one of them, the #2 Wisconsin Badgers, down by 18 at one point, came roaring back to win going away against Texas A&M - Corpus Christi (rule of thumb: don't ever pick a team whose name is the name of a school you know, followed by a city. They never work out). The day's other big comeback wasn't so successful for my beloved Notre Dame, I'm sad to say. Irish Eyes aren't smiling in South Bend this St. Patrick's Day as their attempt to come back from a 20 point second half deficit vs #11 Winthrop came up short. The Irish were actually able to take the lead late in the game, only to have Winthrop pull away at the end. If only there was some way that a dumb Irishman, such as myself, could drown my sorrows today???

The day's other big comeback came right here in GAMM XV as Pat Sinnard's once insurmountable pool lead began to slip away from him in the late games. He suffered his first hit with the aforementioned Notre Dame loss but continued to hold on to a 2 game lead as Friday turned into Saturday. However, taking losses in the wee hours with Arkansas and Villanova allowed the door to open for Tony (or is it really Angie?) Paolucci to pull into a tie for first place with Pat. That of course means we have to once again resort to our tiebreaker: who called the biggest upset, which were #11 seeds Winthrop and VCU knocking off the Irish and the Evil Empire respectively. A review of Angie's, er, I mean TONY'S selections indicates they had neither of those wins. Pat, as mentioned, did not have Winthrop, but as the more astute readers have already figured out, as VCU played yesterday and Pat was undefeated yesterday ... well, you do the math.

Mr. Sinnard, who rose to pool prominence last year with his stunning selection of Bradley to advance to the Sweet Sixteen, now cements his place in history as the 2007 GAMM XV First Round Winner. For his efforts, Pat nets a cool $25. Congratulations, Pat. The rest of the leader board as of this morning shapes up as follows:

As a reminder I'm away on business Sunday through Wednesday. Don't know if I'll have email access, so if you have any questions, well, I don't know what the heck you should do about 'em. Whatever you do though, don't ask any of the folks whose names are listed in that little yellow box just above this paragraph, because I'm thinkin' they just won't be able to help.

And as for being out of town, yeah, I know ... back in ancient Roman times they always waited for the Emperor to leave Rome before mounting their hostile corporate takeovers (or at least that's what Corinne Watterworth remembers). Hey, since I began this thing today with some Latin, if anybody wants this job, I'm reminded of something that another Greg, this one named "Brady," learned the hard way, ... 'caveat emptor'. I know my old Deputy Commissioner, Sheryl Hemphill, gets that one at least! Yep, the Brady Bunch .. still groovy 30 years later (right, Sheryl?)

Later,
The Commissioner (Latin, n: meaning Caesar)

BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH MADNESS

The old man's still got it, C-Mac!

Nice job, kid

Paging Dan Sheedy, You have a call
on line one

Patton Sinnard and Angie/Tony's 29 point efforts stand as the 7th highest first round totals in pool history. The record is held jointly by longtime pool participants Andy Marquart and Marc Pine who each nailed an amazing 31 of 32 in 2000, with Andy winning the tiebreaker. The Commish has the 3rd most, hitting for 30 of 32, but unfortunately for me it was also in 2000. Grrrrrr. This year, I'm in the clubhouse with 25 points, so I'm respectable. (Shaddap, Hurley!).

Taking a look at the other end of the spectrum, the following folks are wishing they could take a mulligan:

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Allyson Gentil (2)
Dave Louis (1)
Robert Rutter
Ryan Morgan (2)
Keith Daleb
Julie "Whatever!" Sheedy

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Prefers to be called "Mullett Man"

Hey,Corcoran ... psssst!!

Paging Dan Sheedy, You have a call
on line two.

Rank Entrant Pts