Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Tag Team Tallies

We don't yet know how the Final Four will play out, of course, but so far nobody could deny it's been the Year of the Upset. So it's only fitting that in our contest we've had a couple of upsets that put even Ohio U over Georgetown to shame: Males (222.10) have scored better than females (216.75), and lawyers (232.0) have outproduced humans (220.46). Perhaps even more surprising, the average Commissioner (226.0) has fared better than the average pool participant (221.31).

How good a year has it been for Duke in 2010? Well, we all know about Duke's Final Four appearance and arch-rival UNC's ignominious descent into the NIT, but adding insult to insult is the fact that those affiliated with Duke lead all institutions with an average score of 242.0 in the contest, while those claiming ties to UNC are dead last with an average of 185.0. Villanova fans outperformed their team, as their 229.33 average is second to Duke, and ahead of Texas (223.0), Vanderbilt (219.0), and Syracuse (213.5).

Despite the inclusion of contest winner Crotty, non-paying entrants (215.81) have once again shown that, by and large, they didn't pay for a reason, trailing paying entrants (222.80) by a hefty margin.

In the official Tag Team competition, the winner is the Friends of Claude, who average 237.0 despite professing their admiration for a dead cat. In second place is Whiteside and his Detractors, with 228.60, and just behind them are the Donadios, who average 225.0, and Urban Engineers, with 219.38.

In yet another upset of epic proportions, the Leach Gang (217.6) finds itself ahead of someone, in this case both the Ripley Believe it or Nots (214.25), and the Kleiman Klan (211.33).

In the Name Game, it's Ed (248.5) in a tight one over Steve (245.5), and Rick (238.0). In the Gospel Division (albeit including some slightly alternative spellings), we have John (234.67) over Luke (225.5), Mark (211.0), and Matthew (200.67). David (221.4) is better than the average Joe (214.5), as well as the average Bob (213.0), Brett (211.5), George (206.0), and Andrew (206.0).

This year's top pool-selecting occupation is the medical field (245.0), followed by business executive and accountant (both at 241.33), IT consultant (238.75), and practicing attorney (231.5). Retired people (219.75) should probably stay that way, and students (218.88) still have a lot to learn. And the only good thing we can say about engineers (217.10) this year is that they're better than those working in the media (212.33).

Children (213.29) have once again proved the age-old adage that they should be seen, but not seen gambling.

It's no coincidence that two of this year's Final Four are from the Midwest, as that region leads all others with a 237.75 average. South Jersey (226.5) leads the Philadelphia PA suburbs (224.55), Western PA (219.4), Philadelphia proper (218.6), and North Jersey (205.0). The deep South (222.63) is a lot better than the Washington/Baltimore Beltway (197.0).

If you want to pick a State to pick pools from, this year we'd recommend Illinois (248.5) and if you can't make it there then Indiana (237.0), Florida (237.0), and Louisiana (236.0) aren't too shabby. Georgia (225.0), Pennsylvania (223.4), and New Jersey (222.2) are slightly above average, while Tennessee (219.0), Michigan (217.0), New York (215.0), and Texas (210.0) are not. And if you're from Virginia (203.0), Maryland (197.0), or Washington DC (183.0), you might as well stick to politics.

This commissioner is off to Indianapolis. Enjoy the Final Four.

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