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"You are not special. You are not a beautiful and distinct snowflake."
- Tyler Durden |
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No, Corinne Watterworth � it appears as if Gonzaga is not a beautiful and unique snowflake, as the University of Wyoming escorts them off premises a little earlier than they, or for that matter � you, thought. Gonzaga = �Gone bye bye� along with Corinne�s hopes of NCAA fortune. I guess they zigged when they shoulda zagged. And talk about your Miami Blues � Oy! Tina Carmel is also �one and done� as they say. #12 Missouri�s upset of #5 Miami by 3pm EST constitutes what may be the quickest elimination of someones champion in pool history. Thank you for flying with Dennehy NCAA airlines. We hope you enjoyed your brief, albeit eventful, stay with us. Before departing, please be sure to bring your seatback forward and return your tray to its upright and locked position. In another interesting game, Holy Cross came ohhhhhhh so close to causing the ALLTIME biggest upset in tournament history when Kansas eked one out in the final minute. Just a matter of time for the Jayhawks though (tick, tick, tick). USC was another big upset, losing to UNC-Wilmington. Only a few unfortunate folks had the Trojans going anywhere though. * cough (Pete Lamoureaux) cough *
Well, no sense putting it off, try as I may. Standing atop the leader board after day one are the following:
Pts Participant
14 Lisa Dennehy (Name sounds kinda familiar, but I can�t quite place it)
14 Merz Martin (My buddy Screamer�s mom)
13 Dave Matz (My boss. Hey, can I rig a pool or what!)
13 Mark �When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that�s� Murtari
13 Ryan �F-Troop�s Corporal Agarn and Sergeant� O�Rourke
Well, this is the part everyone dreads � the first Friday of the pool. For as longtime participants full well know that can only mean one thing � the doors to the Hall of Shame open once more to welcome those individuals who, well � had a little trouble filling out their sheets. |
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Look. Lets just get Corinne Watterworths grandson, Ethan Sioch, out of the way now. At first I was like �what the heck is going on with this kid??� He�s got Winthrop winning the whole thing and every single #1 seed going down in the first round. But wait � it actually gets worse believe it or not. He also had Alcorn St knocking off Maryland. Now, for those who are unaware, there is no such team as �Alcorn St/Sienna.� That was what they call the �play in� game between 2 different schools, named Alcorn State and the other named Sienna. Now, Alcorn St didn�t even win, so there never will be, nor can there ever be, an Alcorn St vs Maryland matchup in this year�s tournament. That means Mr Ethan Sioch already had a loss BEFORE the tournament even started � surely a record that will never be broken. Alas, I did feel a tad better when I found out that Mr Ethan Sioch is only three years old. At first I though it was just because he was related to Corinne. Maybe when you grow up Grandma can buy you up a one week subscription over at www.SebastianSports.com (note to Sebastian � Sydney the cocker spaniel needs to update the �ol picks there, bud). Yeah well anyhoo, Grandma advises me that Ethan�s submission is really just a goof and that they decline the $5 last place prize in the (oh so inevitable) event that he �wins� it. That means last place is wide open and that�s welcome news to Frank �The Mac Daddy� McGurrin, who along with Bob Pierce is one of our pools 2 token attorneys and thus automatically becomes an odds on fave for that one. That�s in addition to the annual whoopin� he gets from his much more basketball savvy son, Chris �C Mac� McGurrin. March is never a happy month for the ol� Mac Daddy. |
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Sydney & owner |
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Ok. Lets talk about abbreviations. A big ol� pet peeve of mine is the folks who use their own made up abbreviations on these sheets. Some folks think I mean �NO abbreviations� whatsoever. No, no, no � it just means I don�t want abbreviations that make me pause to think about what it means. As a for instance, we have a lot of Ohio folks in the pool and for some reason they seem to think the abbreviation �UC� is universally understood to mean �University of Cincinnati.� Hey, I�ve got to hand check each and every game on each and every sheet and if YOU had to stop and think who the heck �Cuse� is (Sean Farrelly�s shorthand for Syracuse in the 2001 pool � my alltime favorite stupid abbreviation btw), well, lets just say that it won�t seem quite so cute to ya.
Folks for the most part were pretty good this year in the abbreviation department (note to self � that sidebar thingy with the rules worked I guess). NJ�s Marc Pine still insists on writing �Zona� and �Bama,� but he�s from Jersey which means we�re practically paisan. So I�ve got to give him some leeway. The only borderline infraction came courtesy of Ron Silva, a coworker of Mrs Dennehy over at the Travelers, and longtime participant Bob Bousquet. They both had what I believe was �Oakland� winning the game between Oklahoma � Illinois Chicago. How else to explain the abbreviation �OAK�? OAK.. what the heck is that? Oh, I get it � Oklahoma, right? See � if I�m whipping thru these sheets with my trusty red marker, I�ve got to stop for a second and think, �who the heck is OAK?�. And then I sigh. Oh yeah, anyone care to guess who TTU is? Tom Byron thinks folks should INSTANTLY know it to mean Texas Tech University.
As is the case every single year, there are always folks who for whatever reason leave the odd game or two blank. Some fortunate souls whose omissions your eagle eyed Commish was able to spot were:
Bill Fleming � Filled out every spot except for the one labeled �National Champion�
Bill O�Keefe - Ditto
Bob Bonini � Couldn�t decide who should go the Final 4 from the Midwest so he passed entirely.
Peter Parsons � No opponent for Duke in the East Regional semis.
Paul Garay #1 � After the 2nd rd, he has Kansas and Oregon with literally no competition until the regional final. |
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There were a couple of contenders for the �Picasso Award� for turning in the most colorful sheets this year. A surprising nominee turned out to be Inland Marine�s very own Judy Cosgrove. Judy used (now get this) not one, not two, but count �em � three (yes .. THREE!) different colored pens! A new record according to folks at the Elias Sports Bureau. And oh yeah, plenty of whiteout too. Can�t forget that. (TRIVIA QUESTION: Who invented �Whiteout�? � answer below) It�s kinda reminds of, ohhhh I don�t know � a beautiful mosaic or something. Judy claims its really her husband�s sheet. Uh, huh. Yup. I�m sure. To quote Bill Lundberg of that cult movie classic Office Space �Riiiiiiiight.� Coming in a distant second were several folks, chief among them was probably Personal Lines� very own Tony Sisti with a mere two pens. Some random selections in black, others in blue. I think it all depended on what kinda mood he was in. We used to be cubicle mates eons ago, so trust me gets like that. Particularly when you try to borrow that red stapler of his. (another far reaching Office Space reference for those keeping track at home) |
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�We�ll get ya a copy of that memo, Judy� |
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One thing I�ve come to respect is the folks who �throw caution to the wind� and take a flyer on some underdog in the pool. This thing NEVER goes the way that the Fox 61 Rich Coppolas and the other vapid blow dryed talking heads of the sports world so booringly tell us it will (�Oh, I think Duke will do well.� Really? Wow, tell us more Rich!). Now, Ethan Sioch�s sorry plight aside, some folks made some fairly gutsy predictions including my old pal Bill Curtin who has Boston University over Cincinnati. Keep in mind a #16 has NEVER beaten a #1. Alumni I�m guessing. A couple of other suspected alumni picks are Sean Farrelly and Steve Lengyel (and a few others) who are taking Central CT to win 2 games. For all you scoffers out there, please allow me to point out to you that Mr Lengyel is a former winner of this pool. That�s a manly man pick going for Central CT. He�s no Rich Coppola. That�s for sure. |
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Coppolla�
no guts? |
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I should have the next update out Monday, but as longtime pool participants will recall, this is the weekend of the annual St. Patrick�s Day Parade in Holyoke, so there�s always the slight chance that may make less sense than usual (wink, wink). As always though, feel free to email me at home with any questions, corrections, etc. Actually, skip the questions. Just let me know about corrections. Get them out of the way early, �cause once the money gets distributed you�re outta luck. And even though it�s listed on the sheet and I gave it to you in yesterdays email too, because I�m a nice guy I will remind you once again that my home email address is [email protected] And hey! Some folks still owe me money. Get it in so I don�t have my friends (pictured) get medieval on ya�ll and STRIKE down upon thee with GREAT vengeance and FURIOUS anger. Yeah. So take that!
Hasta luego,
Der Kommisaar |
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The commish wants his five bucks I said!! |
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TRIVIA ANSWER
Whiteout was invented by the mother of Mike Nesmith (of �The Monkees� fame).
Don�t know what her name is, but hey � does it really matter? |
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