Tag Team topography

Back in the day, the Nova Gang was the original Tag Team in this contest, consistently competitive for the Tag Team title as well as having the most team members by far. We haven't heard from them for a long time but, perhaps emboldened by their namesake's national championship last season, the Gang is back.

Sort of. the Original Nova Gang's average score of 214.67 is so bad, it's more than 30 points behind the Leach Gang (244.78), and almost 17 points worse than the second-worst Tag Team (the Duke-centric DBR, which, like their favorite team, fizzled out with just a 231.40 average).

The once-proud team of Whiteside and his Enemies (236.20) also finished behind the Leaches, as did those associated with Urban Engineering (236.0), and the group who at one time lived in 12A (239.33).

But if you've gotten the idea that the Leach Gang had a particularly good year, we need to set the record straight. The Leaches weren't anywhere near the top of the Tag Team tussle. No, the competition for top Team was extremely competitive, with three Teams within a point of each other. And the winner is... the inexplicably named Anchor Down (253.0), who beat the D'Zurans (252.75) by a quarter of a point, and the Ripley Believe it or Nots (252.33) by two-thirds of a point.

Among favorite colleges (with at least two entrants rooting for them), we have an odd trend: The teams with the highest averages didn't come close to making the NCAA Tournament. Uninvited GW (293.0) and Temple (272.75) led the way, followed by Division III Ursinus (267.0) and left-out Syracuse (251.75). Duke (236.57) and Villanova (244.0) did about as well as you'd expect after their early Tourney exits. Penn State fans (240.33) got the double-whammy of both failing to make the Dance and doing poorly in the contest.

We had a contingent this year who played from the Dominican Republic (233.33), but perhaps something got lost in translation, because the only region they beat was the Midwest (229.0). Both Pittsburgh suburbs (269.33) and New York suburbs (263.75) whupped Philadelphia suburbs (252.78), though within the city limits, Philadelphia (260.83) handled New York (239.25). Those West of the Rockies (261.60) showed those South of the Mason-Dixon Line (246.80) where it's at. Among states from which multiple contestants hail, Pennsylvania (254.51) won bragging rights over New York (248.50), California (246.00), and Illinois (229.00).

In today's world it may be tough to have faith in humanity, but know at least that humans (252.45) are more deserving than lawyers (252.29). Dogs (245.50) are just getting scraps this year.

In a development that should surprise absolutely nobody, Females (257.0) came out on top of males (252.13). Once again confirming one of our favoriate old adages, children (247.20) should be seen but not seen gambling.

This year's best pool-pickin' name is Bob (269.50), who won that distinction in a healthy competition over John/Jon (265.50), David (261.67), Marc (257.00), and Mike (257.50). Less healthy were Jeff (248.50), Rick (245.50), and Kevin (243.00). If you're calling yourself Matt (235.50) or George (233.00), you don't know Jack (231.50).

Those in the computer field (268.0) and practicing attorneys (265.33) apparently both know how to rig things, albeit in different ways. Those in accounting and finance (256.27) barely beat corporate executives (256.00). Retired people (253.25) perhaps retired for a reason, while students (249.17) can maybe teach teachers (225.25) a thing or two. If you're involved in the media (245.00), in sales (235.33), or in engineering (221.25), keep your day job.

What does it say when self-professed afterlife mediums (261.00) know a lot more than the deceased (200.00) from whom they purportedly get their information? Probably less than the fact that the average contestant (252.25) significantly outscored the average commissioner (243.00).