tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72224006413587981722023-11-16T06:14:35.695-08:00PreNCAA ContestDKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13837744679231189217noreply@blogger.comBlogger382125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7222400641358798172.post-48382769190290848462019-04-09T09:48:00.000-07:002019-04-09T14:57:24.424-07:00Great Moments in Pool History - 2019<font size="6">2019 - The Pool Ends on a High Note</font>
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We've been doing this 30 years, and we've decided that just might be enough. All Good Things, and all that. So we're somewhat sorry to say this has been the <i>last</i> Pre-NCAA Contest.
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It's possible we'll change our mind, but if we were in your Nikes, we wouldn't count on it. If we do happen to flip-flop and go for a 31st year, you'll hear about here, on this blog, first.
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It's been a blast running the contest all these years, and it's been great to cyber-meet and interact with you all. Enjoy your year, and may all your future tournaments be exciting.DKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718686831211419521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7222400641358798172.post-19404565656212337612019-04-08T21:01:00.000-07:002019-04-09T11:08:55.587-07:00Wahoo WahWhat a difference a year makes. Twelve months ago, Virginia was the laughingstock of college basketball, having become the first #1 seed to lose to a #16. Now, the Wahoos are champions.
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Congratulations to <B>Harlan</B>, who won the contest and tied <B>Brady</B>'s 24-year-old record with 379 points. Congrats also to <B>C Whiteside</B> (2nd place, 352 points), <B>Warner</B> (3rd place, 325 points), and <B>Biebel 3</B> (first place after selection of the field).
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Full standings may be found <A HREF="http://www.davidkedson.com/CurrentPoolScore.htm">here</A> or from the links on the right-hand side of the page.
DKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718686831211419521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7222400641358798172.post-20292591978522025832019-04-08T12:25:00.000-07:002019-04-08T12:25:21.115-07:00Rivalry Report, 2019In an <A HREF="http://prencaacontest.blogspot.com/2019/04/great-moments-in-pool-history-2014.html">earlier post</A> we highlighted a few of our historical rivalries. And while <B>B Peloso</B> doesn't get to test his mettle against <B>K Sullivan</B> this year, several other rivalries are still hot and heavy.
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Predictably, <B>C Whiteside</B> (312 points and Virginia as his champion) once again whomped <B>Booth</B> (231), giving <B>Booth</B> an all-time record against her arch-nemesis of 1-17 (a rousing 5.6% winning percentage). <B>K Ripley</B>'s (239) record improved to 5-2 (71.4%) against her brother <B>M Wanger</B> (232), but dropped to 7-10-1 (41.7%) against her father <B>R Wanger</B> (268 and Virginia). For good measure, <B>K Ripley</B> conquered her brother's friend <B>Avila</B> too (237).
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<B>J Donadio</B> (258) barely lost to son <B>J Donadio Jr</B> (260), and if Virginia wins he'll get eclipsed by daughter <B>L Donadio</B> (251 plus Virginia) as well. <B>Dale Dye</B> (253) and <B>M Peloso</B> (232) once again proved that women know best, at least when it comes to their own men (<B>Doug Dye</B> (250) and <B>B Peloso</B> (221)). And <B>D Josephs</B> (274 plus Virginia) edged son <B>M Josephs</B> (273 plus Virginia) by a mere point.
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It's always wild and wacky in Leachville. This year 8th-grader <B>Sami Leach</B> not only declared she would be the best middle school contestant but vowed also to beat her sister <B>Madi Leach</B>. And what do you know but the kid walked the walk as well, as <B>Sami Leach</B> (289) not only spanked her older sister <B>Madi Leach</B> (262), but also her cousin (and high school basketball player) <B>Elle Leach</B> (272), her father <B>P Leach</B> (220), her grandfather <B>Ed Leach</B> (244), and every other Leach who dared to cross her path (<B>Sup Leach</B> (246 plus Virginia), <B>L Leach</B> (232), and of course cellar dweller <B>Mash Leach</B> (179)). If Texas Tech win tonight, <B>Sami Leach</B> will not only be our best middle schooler, but our fourth highest score of the year.
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Things aren't so good for long-time contestant <B>R Schlegel</B> (258), who not only lost to his son <B>L Schlegel</B> (274), lost to his cousin <B>Reid</B> (273 plus Virginia), and if Virginia wins will have lost to his cousin's friend <B>Blane</B> (247 plus Virginia), but he also misspelled his own name on the entry form ("Rcik").
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And that seems as good a place as any to end this report.DKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718686831211419521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7222400641358798172.post-57124836934835811972019-04-07T17:14:00.000-07:002019-04-07T17:17:06.236-07:00Tag Teams, 2019 editionWay back in the early days of the contest, the <B>Alliterative Acchiones</B> plus some of their cohorts declared themselves the "Nova Gang." Other groups sprung up to challenge them, and before we knew it we had a fierce annual Tag Team competition. The <B>Leach Clan</B> was perhaps the most colorful (and least successful) of these groups, but from <B>Arnie's Army of Bridge Players</B> to <B>Whiteside and his Enemies</B>, every year was a contest within the contest.
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This year, the top team of taggers was the <B>Former Residents of 12A</B>, who averaged 270.0 points, finishing ahead of the <B>Schlegel Consortium</B> (263.3) and the <B>Friends of DBR</B> (255.8). Finishing behind the leaders but ahead of our more traditional tag teams, <B>Whiteside and his Enemies</B> (252.0) can claim mediocrity ahead of <B>Ripley Believe It or Nots</B> (244.0). And as they have so many times over the years, the <B>Leach Gang</B> finished in the cellar, with a paltry average of 243.2.
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In the name game, the best name for pool picking is clearly David (271.7), by a whopping 20+ points over Jeff (251.5), Kevin (249.8), Rick (247.5), Joe (also 247.5), John (246.4), and Matt (245.7). If your name is Mike (238.0) or George (211.5), witness protection might just be for you.
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The #metoo movement has been big in the last year, but it's been going strong for decades in our contest and this year is no exception as females (261.1) came out on top of males (247.9) by quite a bit. Truth often comes out of the mouths of babes, and sometimes good gambling sense as well, as children (262.4) were significantly better than adults. The battle of the species gave us a true upset, as both humans (249.7) and canines (239.0) fell ignominiously to lawyers (257.0).
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From a regional standpoint, New York City and environs (264.6) was a fine setting for prognostication, ahead of the Beltway area (254.7), greater Philadelphia (250.6), the deep South (244.0), and the far West (239.8). On a statewide basis, Tennessee (280.0) was tops, ahead of New York (270.8), Maryland (266.0), New Jersey (260.5), Illinois (250.7), and Pennsylvania (250.0). If you live in Virginia (249.0), California (243.5), Oregon (232.0), or Florida (220.0), witness protection might just be for you.
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Among our favorite universities, Pitt is for pool-pickers (255.5), barely edging Duke fans (255.1), Penn State backers (238.8), Gonzaga aficionados (233.0), and Villanova enthusiasts (228.0). If you root for VCU, witness protection might just be for you (and how long you think <i>that</i> joke's gonna play?).
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If you're in sales (236.5), you can try to convince us that you weren't the worst pool-picking profession, but we probably won't buy it. If you're in management (236.8), you might want to delegate the next time you play. If you're a teacher (244.3), your students (264.9) think they know better (and apparently do). If you're in the financial world (253.5), you might want to retire (254.3). And if you're an attorney (270.0), witness protection might just be for you (you knew it was coming one more time, right?).
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So that's that. Another tag team tussle is behind us. Tomorrow, we'll wrap up with our Rivals Report and, oh yeah, there might be a basketball game going on. See you then.DKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718686831211419521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7222400641358798172.post-51436494846555498822019-04-06T22:01:00.000-07:002019-04-06T22:01:20.037-07:00One more gameTwo good games tonight. When it's over, Virginia will have played the entire tournament without facing any #1 or #2 seeds (their path has been 16-9-12-3-5-3), something that has only happened <i>once</i> since the tournament went to 64 teams in 1985. The one other time? The year our contest started, 1990, when UNLV faced a path of 16-8-12-11-4-3. Coincidence? We think not.
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<B>Harlan</B> has won the pool, and <B>C Whiteside</B> has finished second. If the Hoos win, <B>Harlan</B> will tie <B>Brady</B>'s all-time record for most points in our contest (379). Also happy if Hooville presides will be <B>Warner</B>, who will win third prize. If the Red Raiders win on Monday, <B>Biebel 3</B> will take third place.DKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718686831211419521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7222400641358798172.post-18466227737226344482019-04-06T08:35:00.000-07:002019-04-08T21:02:43.348-07:00Great Moments in Pool History - Winners & Losers<font size="6">Winners and Losers</font>
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Thirty years of winners. Thirty years of losers. Here are the full lists:
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<font size="3"><U>CONTEST WINNERS</U></font>
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1990: <B>D Kedson</B> (360)<BR>
1991: <B>N Sullivan</B> (341)<BR>
1992: <B>N Rosen</B> (365)<BR>
1993: <B>L Harlan</B> (352)<BR>
1994: <B>N Rosen</B> (325)<BR>
1995: <B>E Campbell</B> (335)<BR>
<font size="4">1996: <B>P Brady</B> (379) -- ALL TIME HIGHEST POINTS</font><BR>
1997: <B>Mash Leach</B> (316)<BR>
1998: <B>M Josephs</B> (308)<BR>
1999: <B>J Marsala</B> (344)<BR>
2000: TIE: <B>J Donadio Jr</B>/<B>N Mahalko</B> (274)<BR>
2001: <B>B Kedson</B> (347)<BR>
2002: <B>C Bland</B> (346)<BR>
2003: <B>G Brindisi</B> (326)<BR>
2004: <B>K Biebel</B> (313)<BR>
2005: TIE: <B>J Butscher</B>/<B>K Wanger</B> (308)<BR>
2006: <B>L Donadio</B> (268)<BR>
2007: <B>M Peloso</B> (344)<BR>
2008: <B>C Whiteside</B> (361)<BR>
2009: TIE: <B>C Nowakowski</B>/<B>R Wanger</B> (328)<BR>
2010: <B>J Crotty</B> (317 - NON-PAYING); 1st prize: <B>K Biebel</B> (305)<BR>
<font size="3">2011: <B>B Huffnagle</B> (223) -- LOWEST 1ST PLACE SCORE</font><BR>
2012: <B>L Harlan</B> (356)<BR>
2013: <B>A Sanders</B> (295)<BR>
2014: <B>N Baumgarten</B> (257)<BR>
2015: <B>D Tester</B> (360 - NON-PAYING); 1st prize: <B>N Baumgarten</B> (354)<BR>
2016: <B>M Peloso</B> (325)<BR>
2017: <B>N Naumgarten</B> (339)<BR>
2018: <B>J Donadio</B> (302)<BR>
<font size="4">2019: <B>L Harlan</B> (379) -- ALL TIME HIGHEST POINTS</font>
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<font size="3"><U>CONTEST LOSERS</U></font>
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<font size="3">1990: <B>D Horn</B> (265) -- HIGHEST LAST PLACE SCORE</font><BR>
1991: TIE <B>J Mannato</B>/<B>H Haynes</B> (240)<BR>
1992: <B>K Gray</B> (186)<BR>
1993: <B>J Henderson</B> (216)<BR>
1994: TIE<B>J McCloskey</B>/<B>Mash Leach</B> (150)<BR>
1995: <B>D Kedson</B> (196)<BR>
1996: <B>Domino Leach</B> (182)<BR>
1997: <B>B Shaid</B> (140)<BR>
<font size="4">1998: <B>E Carson</B> (102) -- ALL TIME LOWEST POINTS</font><BR>
1999: <B>R Vigliotta</B> (207)<BR>
2000: <B>M Ubaldini</B> (144)<BR>
2001: <B>B Spitz</B> (184)<BR>
2002: <B>E Gordon</B> (173)<BR>
2003: <B>K Terhune</B> (162)<BR>
2004: <B>Z Ehrmann</B> (173)<BR>
2005: <B>J Harrison</B> (166)<BR>
2006: <B>Sami Leach</B> (171)<BR>
2007: <B>J Gordon</B> (196)<BR>
2008: <B>Madi Leach</B> (192)<BR>
2009: <B>Kids Leach</B> (185)<BR>
2010: <B>N Booth</B> (169)<BR>
2011: <B>B Wright</B> (115)<BR>
2012: <B>B Spitz</B> (168)<BR>
2013: <B>Urban's Angels</B> (135)<BR>
2014: <B>Urban's Angels</B> (114)<BR>
2015: <B>A Cristinzio</B> (176)<BR>
2016: <B>J Tharp</B> (151)<BR>
2017: <B>C Myers</B> (172)<BR>
2018: <B>R Simon</B> (179)<BR>
2019: <B>Mash Leach</B> (179)DKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718686831211419521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7222400641358798172.post-25582706869284664062019-04-05T10:15:00.000-07:002019-04-05T10:15:48.315-07:00Great Moments in Pool History - 2014<font size="6">2014 - Booth beats Whiteside</font>
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You know the guy. The one who constantly rubs it in your face, who taunts you with his successes at every opportunity, who trash talks his relatives, his co-workers, even his kids? The guy you just <i>have to</i> beat? Well apparently <B>Booth</B> knows him better. His name is <B>Whiteside</B> (<B>C Whiteside</B>, to be precise), and he's her brother-in-law.
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Each year, as Spring approached, <B>Booth</B> thought "this is the year." She filled out her entry form, she crossed her fingers, she publicly announced her intentions to beat her nemesis. But from 2003 (<B>Booth</B>'s first year in the contest) through 2013, it never happened.
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2013 was especially painful, as <B>Booth</B> fell to <B>Whiteside</B> by a mere point, 219 to 218. It seemed like the dream would never come true.
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And then it did. The very next year. In 2014, <B>Booth</B> bested <B>Whiteside</B>, by 20 points, no less (245 to 225). It was a great day for underdogs everywhere, a tribute to the impossible dream.
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<B>Booth</B> hasn't beaten her brother-in-law since. Her overall record against her arch-rival: 1-16, a 5.9% success rate.
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At least it's not zero.
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But <B>Booth</B> vs. <B>Whiteside</B> is not the only blood feud we've instigated here.
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<B>K Ripley</B> has been playing in the contest since she was <B>K Wanger</B>, and each year she has proclaimed her only goal is to beat her father (<B>R Wanger</B>), her brother (<B>M Wanger</B>), and her husband (<B>P Ripley</B>).
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The good news is, she's been a lot more successful than <B>Booth</B>. While it's close, over the years she has a losing record against father <B>R Wanger</B> (7 wins, 9 losses, and a tie). She has managed to thrash brother <B>M Wanger</B>, 4 wins against 2 losses, and beat her husband <B>P Ripley</B>, 7 wins against 5 losses. She even managed to spank her son (<B>A Ripley</B>) in the only contest the tyke entered.
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But no blog post about bitter competitors can be complete without mentioning <B>B Peloso</B> and <B>K Sullivan</B>. In her first contest, <B>K Sullivan</B> finished in second place. She proceeded to trash-talk <B>B Peloso</B> for an entire year, and it was on. <B>K Sullivan</B> beat her rival again in 1999, and again in 2000. And two out of three after that. But then <B>B Peloso</B> struck back, winning three of the next four years. Back and forth and back and forth. At this point, both suggest their only interest in entering is bragging rights over the other.
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So what's the result? You guessed it: 9 wins for <B>K Sullivan</B>, 9 wins for <B>B Peloso</B>, and a tie (in 2014). Yep, it's a complete deadlock.
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<B>K Sullivan</B> declined to enter the contest this year.DKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718686831211419521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7222400641358798172.post-2265331883535930702019-04-04T12:24:00.000-07:002019-04-04T12:24:55.733-07:00Great Moments in Pool History - in the Family WayThis has always been a family-friendly contest. Husbands and wives, parents and children, siblings, even occasionally family pets, have all entered the contest and competed against each other (and to a lesser extent, everybody else). But several families stand out, at least in sheer quantity. We'd like to mention some of them here.
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One of the first families to participate in the contest was the family unit we dubbed the <B>Alliterative Acchiones</B>. Led by <B>Bill, Buddy</B>, and <B>Butch</B> - but later joined by <B>Amy, Jake</B>, and <B>Maureen</B> - they founded the first of our many tag teams (the Nova Gang) and participated year after year. Sadly, for the <B>Acchiones</B>, none of them ever won a contest...
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...which is not something you can say about the <B>Donadios</B>. We've had five (5) <B>Donadios</B> participate in this contest (<B>John, John Jr, Lucia, Mary Ellen,</B> and <B>Nicholas</B>) and three (3) of them (60%) have won the contest: <B>John Donadio</B> in 2018; <B>John Donadio, Jr</B> in 2000 (tie); and <B>Lucia Donadio</B> in 2006. Pretty impressive for a group that all lives in the same house.
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The <B>Wangers/Ripleys</B>, not all from the same house, have also represented well. It started with <B>Randy Wanger</B> and his two children, <B>Mike</B> and <B>Kelly</B>, but when <B>Kelly</B> got married, she dragged her husband <B>Paul</B> and child <B>Aaron</B> into it as well. As the two most eager participants, it's only fitting that the two contest winners from this family are <B>Randy</B> in 2009 (tie) and <B>Kelly</B> in 2005 (tie).
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This commissioner's own family, the <B>Kedsons</B>, has also been well-represented. The commissioners wife (<B>Susan</B>), child (<B>Brandon</B>), parents (<B>Len</B> and <B>Phyllis</B>), mother-in-law (<B>Bobbie Shaid</B>), brother (<B>Ira</B>), nephew (<B>Jack</B>), cat (<B>A Capella</B>), brother's dog (<B>Quasi</B>), and brother's cat (<B>Eesara</B>) have all at one time participated in our contest. The commissioner himself (<B>David Kedson</B>) won the contest in 1990, then finished last in 1995. The commissioner's son <B>Brandon</B> won in 2001.
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But the most prolific and flamboyant family to have graced the annals of our contest is undoubtedly the <B>Leaches</B>. Led by patriarch <B>Ed Leach</B>, no fewer than eleven (11) different Leach family members have participated in the pool: <B>Ed, Elle, Kids, Domino, Leo, Madison, Mash, Perry, Samantha, Surprise</B>, and in-law <B>Manny Pogach</B>. The entire clan can only collectively boast of one contest win (<B>Mash Leach</B> in 1997), but an amazing five (5) <B>Leaches</B> have finished dead last: <B>Mash Leach</B> in 1994; <B>Domino Leach</B> in 1996; <B>Samantha Leach</B> in 2006; <B>Madison Leach</B> in 2008, and <B>Kids Leach</B> in 2009. Fittingly, the outrageous <B>Mash Leach</B> will this year bring that total up to six (6) and become only the third multi-year last place finisher, as <B>Mash</B> has clinched the bottom spot in the 2019 contest.DKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718686831211419521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7222400641358798172.post-129741146249844252019-04-04T09:00:00.001-07:002019-04-04T09:00:40.405-07:00Not So Great Moments in Pool History - 2015<font size="6">2015 - Al Alberts leaves us</font>
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One of our greatest contestants was Al Alberts, who played in every contest from our initial one in 1990 through 2014. He didn't enter the contest in 2015, and we wondered why. When we found out, we eulogized him in this re-purposed post from 2015:
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<i>(cue the time machine...</i>)
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<B><I><font size="3">Post from Monday, March 2, 2015<BR>Titled: "RIP, Al Alberts"</font></I></B>
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The commissioners are saddened to have learned that <B>Alberts</B> has passed on to that great sports book in the sky.
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One of the few people who played in each of the first 25 Pre-NCAA contests, he was also one of our best recruiters, bringing friends and co-workers to the contest in droves. His highest contest achievement was a second place finish in 1996, but he was usually hanging out in the top 20.
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We used to play in "Sportie Al's" weekly college basketball pool back when he worked at Urban Engineers, and remember him as a really nice guy who was totally devoted to sports. You can bet that wherever he is now, he's either running some heavenly pool or participating in one.
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We'll miss you, Al. The contest won't be the same without you.</I>
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DKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718686831211419521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7222400641358798172.post-5000590360104419872019-04-03T11:22:00.000-07:002019-04-03T11:22:15.326-07:00Great Moments in Pool History - 2010<font size="6">2010 - A Better Omen</font>
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Yesterday we detailed our harrowing travel adventures leading to the 2009 Final Four. The very next year we got wise and drove to Indianapolis for a much more user-friendly experience, as chronicled in this re-purposed post from 2010:
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<i>(cue the time machine...</i>)
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<B><I><font size="3">Post from Wednesday, April 7, 2009<BR>Titled: "The Omen"</font></I></B>
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We were looking for omens. It's a long drive from Philadelphia to Indianapolis, and on Friday, April 2, we were unsure what the weekend would bring. We crossed Pennsylvania without seeing anything unusual, and left West Virginia in the dust (which felt good). Soon after that, however, the psychic vibes became evident. <br /><br />Two trucks vied for supremacy in the right and middle lanes, the one with "Baylor" scrawled across its side moving confidently ahead of the one reading "Old Dominion." An RV with "Georgetown" written in large letters seemed to be stuck in first gear as little compact cars with Ohio license plates raced past it.<br /><br />And then we saw it. A towering pole with a sign in the shape of a crown, and a single word etched inside. And suddenly all our doubts evaporated into the Ohio air. We knew who the champion would be. And all seemed right with the world.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxZqARcciitkJko0ZHgDZJ-blVjKkGVDuJ7iWxOLwsKiC1xdNgGukvoLMwQ83bo9wwEEiiOPya_u8CylKrI5NWUxuldOIt1VpkgKC-FgM1tqIkR3bYW0TCxkBruIHXOcbUcqPAMO6AgMc/s1600/DukeOmen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxZqARcciitkJko0ZHgDZJ-blVjKkGVDuJ7iWxOLwsKiC1xdNgGukvoLMwQ83bo9wwEEiiOPya_u8CylKrI5NWUxuldOIt1VpkgKC-FgM1tqIkR3bYW0TCxkBruIHXOcbUcqPAMO6AgMc/s320/DukeOmen.jpg" width="320" height="240" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="1200" /></a></div></i>
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And yes, that really happened.DKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718686831211419521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7222400641358798172.post-47498840908435935932019-04-02T11:52:00.000-07:002019-04-02T12:06:38.023-07:00Not So Great Moments in Pool History - 2009<font size="6">2009 - The commissioner's plane gets canceled</font>
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This particular commissioner traveled to 21 Final Fours from the year before the contest started (1989) through 2010 (plus a 22nd Final Four in 2015). Getting there is not always easy, however, as this re-purposed post from 2009 illustrates:
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<i>(cue the time machine...</i>)
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<B><I><font size="3">Post from Saturday, April 4, 2009<BR>Titled: "Take your omens as you find them"</font></I></B>
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<i>Sometimes one has to suffer for one's obsessions. This particular commissioner traveled to his 20th Final Four yesterday, a fact that utterly failed to impress the USAirways automatic assistant when it called four hours before the commissioner's scheduled departure time to inform him via pre-recorded message that his flight had been canceled. Humans working at USAirways were similarly unsympathetic, asserting that all other flights to Detroit were booked solid, leading to this lightly edited conversation in the commissioner's about-to-spontaneously-combust brain:<br /><br />Commissioner: No kidding it's booked solid. It's the friggin' Final Four! You canceled my flight on four hours notice, you can't squeeze me onto another plane?<br /><br />Unsympathetic USAir employee: Sorry, we're only required to do that if the situation is our fault.<br /><br />C: I've had a reservation for four months and you canceled it on four hours notice. Whose fault is it?<br /><br />UUE: Would you like to fly somewhere else?<br /><br />C: Would you like to move the Final Four somewhere else?<br /><br />Ultimately, we compromised on tickets to Akron/Canton, Ohio, a mere three and a half hour drive from Detroit, a flight which had the added advantage once we arrived at the Philadelphia airport of being postponed for four hours, making our door-to-door travel time a pleasant ten hours.<br /><br />But that's not what this story is about.<br /><br />We finally arrive at Akron and trudge out to our rental car, for which Hertz has compassionately agreed to charge us only $157 since we're picking the car up in Akron and dropping it off in Detroit the next day. The commissioner's eight-year-old son wanders around to the back of the car, to stow his backpack in the trunk, when he stops and calls out in horror, "OH, NO! Daddy come quick!"<br /><br />We're standing in Ohio on our way to Michigan, but the license plate of our rental car says, "North Carolina."</i><br /><BR>
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So, that happened. We enjoyed that Final Four (though as Duke fans, not the end result). And we've been to Final Fours in Minneapolis twice (and both times our favorite team won), but (sadly) not this year.DKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718686831211419521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7222400641358798172.post-64106171905781777982019-03-31T16:41:00.000-07:002019-03-31T21:46:21.319-07:00Four SquareWow. Four Elite Eight games, and the biggest "blowout" was Texas Tech's six (6) point win over Gonzaga, along with two overtime games and Michigan State's 1-point squeaker over Duke. Guess the fans got their money's worth.
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But how about our contestants? For just the third time in contest history, a wild card has reached the Final Four (1996 Mississippi State, picked by 13; 2013 Wichita State, picked by 1 (<B>Sciarabba</B>), and now 2019 Auburn, picked by 7: <B>Biebel 3, Gorenstein, Harlan, Elle Leach, Rybaltowski, Serri, C Whiteside</B>).
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Virginia was a popular pick, chosen by 36 into the Final Four and by 18 as champion. Michigan State was selected by 10 to make the Final Four and by three as champion (<B>Karlsruher, L Leach, J Whiteside</B>). Texas Tech was picked by 7 to make the Final Four (<B>Dale Dye, M Josephs, Sami Leach, E Pogach, Reid, Rybaltowski, Warner</B>) and by none to win it all.
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Our three prizewinners, depending on who wins the championship, are as follows:
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VIRGINIA
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<B>Harlan</B>, 379<BR>
<B>C Whiteside</B>, 352<BR>
<B>Warner</B>, 325<BR>
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MICHIGAN STATE
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<B>Harlan</B>, 339<BR>
<B>Karlsruher</B>, 313<BR>
<B>C Whiteside</B>, 312<BR>
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TEXAS TECH
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<B>Harlan</B>, 339<BR>
<B>C Whiteside</B>, 312<BR>
<B>Biebel 3</B>, 292<BR>
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AUBURN
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<B>Harlan</B>, 414<BR>
<B>C Whiteside</B>, 387<BR>
<B>Biebel 3</B>, 367<BR>
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So, congrats to <B>Harlan</B>, who has won the contest for a record third time (no matter which team wins), and to <B>C Whiteside</B>, who also wins something no matter what. And I guess to <B>Mash Leach</B> (179), who has become only the second entrant to finish last in two different contests.
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Full standings may be found on the right-hand side of the page, or <A HREF="http://www.davidkedson.com/CurrentPoolScore.htm">here</A>.
DKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718686831211419521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7222400641358798172.post-6563453059540197152019-03-30T20:37:00.000-07:002019-03-30T20:37:39.880-07:00Halfway to Four (aka, Two)Well we're halfway to the Final Four, and though the standings at this stage are a little bit meaningless, <B>Harlan</B> is still in the lead with 289 points, followed closely by <B>Warner</B> (285) and <B>C Whiteside</B> (282), and less closely by <B>D Kedson</B> (275), <B>L Schlegel</B> (275), <B>D Josephs</B> (274), <B>Reid</B> (273), and <B>Tester</B> (270). Full standings may be found (as always) through a link on the right-hand of this page, or <A HREF="http://www.davidkedson.com/CurrentPoolScore.htm">here</A>.
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Congrats to the seven entrants who followed Texas Tech into the Valley of the Four (<B>Dale Dye, M Josephs, Sami Leach, E Pogach, Reid, Rybaltowski, Warner</B>); less so to the zero (0) entrants who picked the Red Raiders to be national champions.DKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718686831211419521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7222400641358798172.post-14228386056384141822019-03-29T21:40:00.000-07:002019-03-29T21:41:35.661-07:00Eight May or May Not be EnoughThe Eight has happened. And with three 1-seeds, two 2-seeds, and two 3-seeds in the Elite Eight, we still only have 35 out of 58 contestants with more than half of the Elite Eight correct (and that's <i>including</i> wild cards).
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Amazingly, we had a contestant (<B>Tester</B>) who got 7 of the 8 correct, though predictably that contestant is a non-paying entrant. An additional seven entrants got 6 of 8 (<B>D Kedson, L Schlegel, D Josephs, Warner, Sami Leach, Harlan</B> (including Auburn as WC), and <B>C Whiteside</B> (also including Auburn as WC).
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Balancing out those seven are seven contestants who only accurately predicted just 3 of the 8 Elite Eight teams (<B>Serri, Rybaltowski, Marshall, J Broder, E Pogach, Templeton 2</B>, and <B>Mash Leach</B>).
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<B>Harlan</B> is now in first, with 269 points, followed by <B>Biebel 3</B> (262), <B>C Whiteside</B> (262), <B>D Kedson</B> (255), <B>L Schlegel</B> (255), <B>D Josephs</B> (254), <B>Tester</B> (250), and <B>Sami Leach</B> (249). The top three in the standings all took Auburn as their wild card.
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A lot more to happen over the weekend. Full standings may be found on the right-hand side of the page, or <A HREF="http://www.davidkedson.com/CurrentPoolScore.htm">here</A>.DKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718686831211419521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7222400641358798172.post-9376005421709596362019-03-28T21:50:00.000-07:002019-03-28T21:50:15.546-07:00Great Moments in Pool History - 1991<font size="6">1991 - The UNLV Discount</font>
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In 1991, undefeated UNLV was such a prohibitive favorite that the commissioners, hoping for a little diversity in champion choices, diverged from the normal scoring options. Instead of awarding 40 points for champion, as we've done in every contest since, we only promised 30 points to entrants who took UNLV to win it, and attempted to entice any choice other than UNLV with 50 points.
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In retrospect, the succeeding events were obvious, but in 1991 who knew? 21 of 27 contestants (77.8%) went with UNLV anyway, and as became customary in later years, that overwhelming majority guessed wrong. Only two entrants got the points for eventual champion Duke, and one of them (<B>N Sullivan</B>) won the contest, with 341 points.
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We have never offered such a "discount" again.
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Oh, wait, you came here for <i>current</i> news? OK, halfway through to the Elite Eight, the standings may be found on the right-hand side of the page, or <A HREF="http://www.davidkedson.com/CurrentPoolScore.htm">here</A>. Of the top four scores, three (75%) have been turned in by Davids. And <B>Booth</B> is only one point behind <B>C Whiteside</B>. Besides that, who cares? The standings are meaningless until after tomorrow's games.DKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718686831211419521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7222400641358798172.post-35598139282121327202019-03-27T21:04:00.000-07:002019-03-27T21:04:32.197-07:00Advanced Math: Eight plus FourIn two <a href="http://prencaacontest.blogspot.com/2019/03/round-two.html">earlier posts</a>, we talked about the 46 eliminated Elite Eight entries and the seven foregone Final Four fiascos. Now let's talk about the 418 Elite Eight picks and the 225 Final Four selections that are still alive.
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Here's the E8 breakdown:
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Duke 53 <BR>
Gonzaga 51 <BR>
Virginia 51 <BR>
Kentucky 43 <BR>
North Carolina 43 <BR>
Tennessee 40 <BR>
Michigan 34 <BR>
Michigan State 29 <BR>
Texas Tech 24 <BR>
LSU 16 <BR>
Purdue 13 <BR>
Houston 12 <BR>
Florida State 5 (<B>Baum, Doug Dye, Gorenstein, Sup Leach, Rybaltowski</B>)<BR>
Virginia Tech 4 (<B>Dale Dye, M Peloso, E Pogach, Templeton</B>)<BR>
Auburn 0 <BR>
Oregon 0 <BR>
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As a reminder, these are the already eliminated Elite Eight entries:
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Kansas 10 (<B>Biebel 3, Ed Leach, Mash Leach, J McAtee, B Peloso, E Pogach, Selig, Templeton 2, B Whiteside, J Whiteside</B>)<BR>
Marquette 9 (<B>Baum, Biebel 2, M Josephs, J McAtee, E Pogach, Rubinson, Rybaltowski, Steinhardt, Templeton 2</B>)<BR>
Villanova 7 (<B>Avila, J Broder, D Kedson, Sami Leach, L Schlegel, Selig, Tester</B>)<BR>
Nevada 7 (<B>Doug Dye, M Kleiman, L Leach, Marshall, Paston, Rybaltowski, Serri</B>)<BR>
Buffalo 2 (<B>M Paston, Sciarabba</B>)<BR>
Wisconsin 2 (<B>Booth, L Leach</B>)<BR>
Iowa State 2 (<B>Atkinson, Sup Leach</B>)<BR>
Kansas State 2 (<B>Marshall, Sciarabba</B>)<BR>
VCU 1 (<B>Templeton 2</B>)<BR>
Maryland 1 (<B>Mash Leach</B>)<BR>
NC State 1 (<B>K Ripley</B>)<BR>
Washington 1 (<B>J Broder</B>)<BR>
Cincinnati 1 (<B>J McAtee</B>)<BR>
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And here's the F4 breakdown:
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Gonzaga 40 <BR>
Duke 38 <BR>
Virginia 36 <BR>
North Carolina 30 <BR>
Kentucky 20 <BR>
Tennessee 18 <BR>
Michigan 15 <BR>
Michigan State 10 <BR>
Texas Tech 7 (<B>Dale Dye, M Josephs, Sami Leach, E Pogach, Reid, Rybaltowski, Warner</B>)<BR>
LSU 5 (<B>Biebel 3, Doug Dye, Mash Leach, Sup Leach, R Simon</B>)<BR>
Purdue 4 (<B>Butscher, D Kedson, Elle Leach, Templeton</B>)<BR>
Houston 2 (<B>L Leach, J McAtee</B>)<BR>
Virginia Tech 0<BR>
Florida State 0<BR>
Auburn 0<BR>
Oregon 0<BR>
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And again as a reminder, these are the Final Four failures, so far:
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Kansas 4 (<B>Biebel 3, Mash Leach, B Peloso, J Whiteside</B>)<BR>
Wisconsin 1 (<B>Booth</B>)<BR>
Villanova 1 (<B>Tester</B>)<BR>
Nevada 1 (<B>Rybaltowski</B>)<BR>
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It's also worth noting that seven contestants have Auburn as their wild card (<B>Biebel 3, Gorenstein, Harlan, Elle Leach, Rybaltowski, Serri, C Whiteside</B>).
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With almost everyone looking at potential bonanzas, we won't be able to properly ridicule our contestants until some more games have been played. So stay tuned.
DKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718686831211419521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7222400641358798172.post-50732122743945507932019-03-27T08:55:00.001-07:002019-04-04T10:47:04.154-07:00Great Moments in Pool History - Firsts of Dubious Distinction<font size="6">2000 - Sister Kissing</font>
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This particular commissioner doesn't have any sisters, so I don't know what it feels like and frankly am too polite to ask. What I do know is that we went ten years of this contest without ever having a tie at the top, then had three first-place ties in ten years, and then haven't had any since.
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The first time we had two entrants who had to split the glory (and cash) was in the year 2000. <B>J Donadio, Jr.</B> and <B>Mahalko</B> both had 274 points, which incidentally was the lowest first-place total ever at that time (that record, however was "bested" in 2006, when (oddly enough) <B>L Donadio</B> won with just 268 points, and then shattered in 2011, when <B>Huffnagle</B> won with 223).
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Five years later, <B>Butscher</B> and <B>K Wanger</B> (now <B>K Ripley</B>) split the prize, each having 308 points in 2005. Not to be outdone by his daughter, the third tie occurred four years after that, when <B>R Wanger</B> split the winnings with <B>Nowakowski</B>, each with 328 points in 2009.
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<font size="6">2010 - Nobility</font>
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We always admire when someone plays the contest for the sheer joy of competing, without any hope of actually collecting any tangible reward. Though if it was us, we'd make sure to pay the fee and be eligible for the prizes. For the first 20 years of the contest, the truth appeared to be that those who chose not to pay did so because they really <i>did</i> have no hope of winning, because their picks were, shall we say, uninspiring.
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Well, that truth burned to the ground in 2010, when non-paying <B>Crotty</B> won the contest in his first attempt, with 317 points, and was declared the most noble winner we'd ever had. His cash went to <B>Biebel</B> (305 points).
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Five years later, it happened again. This time it was <B>Tester</B>, amazingly also in his first attempt, who won with 360 points. His cash went to <B>Baumgarten</B> (354 points).
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Interestingly enough, <B>Crotty</B> played in our contest for five more years, and in each of those contests he chose to pay and thus play for both glory <i>and</i> cash. He never won again.
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<B>Tester</B> stayed true to his ideals, has never paid, and finished 60th, 51st, and 44th in the years since his day in the sun. This year, he's currently sitting in 33rd place.
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<font size="6">1995 - Extremes</font>
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Lest anyone think the winners of our contest possess innate talent of some kind that allows them to preternaturally pick better than the rest of us, we offer as Exhibit A commissioner <B>D Kedson</B>. The 1990 winner with 360 points turned around just five years later finished dead last, with a mere 196 points in 1995.
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Exhibit B is even more interesting, as we bring you <B>Mash Leach</B>. In the three years preceding the Monster Mash's stunning 1997 victory (316 points), he'd managed to finish 80th, 81st, and 98th, including a last-place "performance" in 1994 (150 points).
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In deference to the rest of our contestants, we feel obligated to point out that these two have been the only entrants to pull off this Jekyll-and-Hyde stunt. But we're sure a lot of others came close.
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<font size="6">2014 - Two Time Losers</font>
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As we mentioned in a previous post, we've had five multi-time first-place prize winners. What we haven't mentioned (at least not yet) is that the contest has only seen one contestant who finished <i>last</i> more than once. That contestant was <B>Urban's Angels</B> who hit the bottom spot in 2013 (135 points) and again in 2014 (114 points, the 2nd-lowest total ever in our contest). Even more impressive, those two years were the <i>only</i> years that <B>Urban's Angels</B> entered our contest.
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EDIT: Turns out <B>Urban's Angels</B> was NOT the only multi-last place finisher: <B>Spitz</B> achieved this dubious feat the year before anybody'd ever heard of <B>Urban's Angels</B>, in 2012, after also finishing last all the way back in 2001. And in this current 2019 contest, <B>Mash Leach</B> has finished last for the second time. So there's that.
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Which seems like as good a place as any to end this post.DKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718686831211419521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7222400641358798172.post-41900626408521133782019-03-26T08:39:00.000-07:002019-03-26T08:54:55.547-07:00Great Moments in Pool History - 1994<font size="6">1994 - our first two-timer</font>
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In our 5th contest, we had our first two-timer. 1992 winner <B>Norm Rosen</B> won for the second time in three years, giving him 40% of the contest titles (2 out of 5). His performance was even more dominant considering he didn't play the contest in 1990 or 1991. A dynasty was looming. We were facing the Yankees of the Pre-NCAA pool.
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But <B>Rosen</B> never won our contest again.
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However his feat did stand the test of time. The contest was 23 years old before our next two-time winner. Actually, two years before that (in 2010) we handed out the winning prize to a previous winner, but <B>Biebel</B>, who had won the contest in 2004, really finished second in 2010, only taking the first prize money because the true winner, <B>Crotty</B>, was a non-paying contestant. It wasn't until 2012 that we had a two-timer (other than <B>Rosen</B>) who truly finished first twice, that double-dipper being <B>Harlan</B>, who had previously won in 1993 (coincidentally, the year in between <B>Rosen</B>'s conquests).
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Somehow the floodgates had opened, because after going 20+ years in which <B>Rosen</B> was our only two-time winner, our 2016 champion <B>M Peloso</B> (who had previously won in 2007) became the 4th such individual (counting <B>Biebel</B>) in seven years.
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The third of those four was 2014 winner <B>Baumgarten</B>, though similar to <B>Biebel</B>, <B>Baumgarten</B>'s 2015 first prize winnings were courtesy of an actual winner (<B>Tester</B>) who didn't have the sense to pay for his entry. In 2017, <B>Baumgarten</B> became a true two-timer, and our <i>only</i> three-timer, winning the first prize money for the third time in four years.
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As a fitting monument to his brilliance, on his historic 2017 entry form <B>Baumgarten</B> misspelled his own name.DKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718686831211419521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7222400641358798172.post-11407170834863799252019-03-25T08:06:00.000-07:002019-03-25T08:06:44.879-07:00Round TwoThe second round wiped out all of our wild cards except Auburn, meaning only seven (7) contestants got more than one (1) wild card point: <B>Biebel 3, Gorenstein, Harlan, Elle Leach, Rybaltowski, Serri, C Whiteside</B>.
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The weekend games knocked out surprisingly few of our Final Four and Elite Eight picks, however. As of now, only 46 out of a possible 464 Elite Eight picks (9.9%) are eliminated, those being the 25 we mentioned in this <A HREF="http://prencaacontest.blogspot.com/2019/03/give-me-liberty-said-nobody-in-our.html">earlier blog post</A>, as well as those devoted to Kansas (10), Villanova (7: <B>Avila, J Broder, D Kedson, Sami Leach, L Schlegel, Selig, Tester</B>), Buffalo (2: <B>M Paston, Sciarabba</B>), Washington (1: <B>J Broder</B>), and Maryland (1: <B>Mash Leach</B>). A mere seven (7) of our 232 Final Four picks (3.0%) have been kicked to the curb - those affiliated with Kansas (4: <B>Biebel 3, Mash Leach, B Peloso, J Whiteside</B>), Villanova (<B>Tester</B>), Wisconsin (<B>Booth</B>), and Nevada (<B>Rybaltowski</B>).
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<B>Biebel 3</B> is now in first place with 202 points, followed by <B>Harlan</B> (199), <B>Baum</B> (196), <B>D Kedson</B> and <B>L Schlegel</B> (195 each), <B>D Josephs</B> (194), and <B>B Whiteside</B> (193). Comfortably in last place is <B>Kirchoff</B>, with 129 points.
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Full standings may be found <A HREF="http://www.davidkedson.com/CurrentPoolScore.htm">here</A>, or in the link on the right-hand side of the page.DKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718686831211419521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7222400641358798172.post-52513894157884295412019-03-24T11:52:00.000-07:002019-03-24T11:55:14.570-07:00Great Moments in Pool History - A Tale of Two Commissioners<font size="6">1998 - from spam to command</font>
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In the contest's early years, our contestants were almost exclusively friends and co-workers of the commissioners. Our first three years we had 18, 26, and 27 entries, and the commissioners could practically knock on every previous-year contestant's door and hand each of them the new year's entry form. Soon, however, word began to spread as if by wildfire. Our next five years, we had 50, 80, 90, 103, and 123 entries, and there were simply too many people for the commissioners to personally remind about each year's contest. By the mid- to late-1990s, the commissioners started disseminating information using a newfangled invention known as "e-mail."
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In order to do that, of course, people had to give us their e-mail addresses. We specifically asked each entrant for permission to communicate by e-mail as well as a convenient address to which we could send the entry form and newsletters.
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Therefore, you can perhaps imagine our surprise when we received an extremely indignant response to one of our e-mails in February 1998. We don't remember the exact words, but it was something along the lines of, <I>Where do you get off spamming me with this crap? If you ever contact me again, I'll report you</I>.
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A little bit stung by this response, the commissioners contritely explained (in a very small electronic voice) that <B>M Josephs</B> had played in our contest the year before and had actually asked us to send the e-mail announcing the 1998 contest. After thinking about it, <B>M Josephs</B> apparently remembered and sent back a filled out entry form.
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He was the only entrant that picked Kentucky to win the championship that season, and since Kentucky did in fact win the championship, <B>M Josephs</B> won the contest (and the prize-money that went with it).
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He became predictably enthusiastic about the contest thereafter. So enthusiastic that several years later, he volunteered to become a commissioner. His main contribution? Sending out our annual e-mails.
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<B>M Josephs</B> has never won the contest again.
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<font size="6">2019 - Bob Natalini does absolutely nothing</font>
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Original co-commissioner <B>RS Natalini</B> did a little bit of everything. He recruited contestants, distributed entry forms, helped enter selections into the database and helped tabulate results, sent e-mails, co-wrote newsletters, and did whatever else needed to be done. No way the pool would have lasted 30 years without <B>RS Natalini</B> performing his co-commissionerial duties.
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The years marched on, and the contest became more and more automated, needed less and less from the co-commissioner. We don't remember the exact words, but at some point he said something along the lines of, <I>You don't need me anymore, right?</I>
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He didn't walk away completely. He still played in the contest, both on his own behalf and as a co-entrant with <B>S Adams</B> and <B>Coach Doc</B>. He still encouraged his father, <B>RC Natalini</B> to play. He even submitted entries in the name of his deceased cat, <B>Claude</B>.
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But not this year. No, in February 2019, <B>RS Natalini</B> sent us an e-mail a few days before the entries were due, telling us he just didn't have time to focus on the contest this year. For the first time in 30 years, <B>RS Natalini</B> was not part of the Pre-NCAA Contest.
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And pool-watchers everywhere shed a single, solitary tear.DKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718686831211419521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7222400641358798172.post-16327300462568003202019-03-23T09:44:00.000-07:002019-03-23T09:44:54.262-07:00Give me Liberty! (said nobody in our contest)Yeah, we were going to talk about all the savvy contestants who had the guts and foresight to take Liberty as their wild card, except no such people existed. So we'll have to talk about failure instead.
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Those who chose our two most popular wild cards appeared in good shape when Mississippi State (taken by 11) got a 5-seed and Cincinnati (also selected by 11) got a 7-seed. Well, after 30 years you probably know the drill: both teams lost their first-round game, thus bestowing exactly zero (0) wild card points on those who chose them. VCU (picked by 3: <B>Atkinson, M Josephs, Templeton</B>), Syracuse (2: <B>E Pogach, Rubinson</B>), and Utah State (1: <B>Warner</B>) also dropped their first-round contests, bringing the total of entrants who got nothing and liked it to 34 (including our two entrants who chose illegal wild cards (<B>J Broder</B> and <B>R Simon</B>), our three entrants who picked non-dancing wild cards (<B>Doug Dye, M Kleiman, Kirchoff</B>) and the one unfortunate who picked a wild card who lost in the play-in round (<B>Avila</B>).
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Of course this leaves 24 cagey contestants who've received at least one wild card point: the nine (9) who chose Wofford, the seven (7) who took Auburn, the five (5) who went with Washington, as well as <B>Steinhardt</B> (Murray State), <B>L Leaach</B> (UCF), and <B>Sup Leach</B> (Oklahoma).
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All four #1s, #2s, and #3s won, plus three of the four #4s. But that didn't keep <B>Booth</B> (Wisconsin) or <B>Rybaltowski</B> (Nevada) from sacrificing a Final Four team after the first round. A total of 25 Elite Eight picks are also down the proverbial tubes after just one game, thanks to: Marquette (9: <B>Baum, Biebel 2, M Josephs, J McAtee, E Pogach, Rubinson, Rybaltowski, Steinhardt, Templeton 2</B>); Nevada (7: <B>Doug Dye, M Kleiman, L Leach, Marshall, Paston, Rybaltowski, Serri</B>); Wisconsin (2: <B>Booth, L Leach</B>); Kansas State (2: <B>Marshall, Sciarabba</B>); Iowa State (2: <B>Atkinson, Sup Leach</B>); Cincinnati (<B>J McAtee</B>); and VCU (<B>Templeton 2</B>). Special mention goes to <B>K Ripley</B>, who took uninvited NC State into her Elite Eight.
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More games today. Seeya.DKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718686831211419521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7222400641358798172.post-67892336022373347642019-03-22T20:37:00.001-07:002019-03-22T20:37:44.170-07:00Chomp EonsOver the course of 29 years, one thing is certain about our contest -- our most popular champion almost never wins. So, Duke fans, be afraid, be very afraid.
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Yes, Duke is our most popular pick, with 19 of us digging the Devils as national champs. But over the past 29 tournaments, that honor came to fruition six (6) times, or 20.7%. Three teams got 10 or more votes (including Virginia (18) and Gonzaga (10)), and no other team got more than three votes. The full breakdown is below:
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Duke: 19<BR>
Virginia: 18<BR>
Gonzaga: 10<BR>
Michigan State: 3 (<B>Karlsruher, L Leach, J Whiteside</B>)<BR>
Tennessee: 2 (<B>Gorenstein, P Leach</B>)<BR>
North Carolina: 2 (<B>Baum, Mash Leach</B>)<BR>
Michigan: 2 (<B>Ayala, Elle Leach</B>)<BR>
Kentucky: 2 (<B>Ed Leach, M Paston</B>)<BR>
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All eight of these teams survived the first round. We'll see how they do over the weekend.DKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718686831211419521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7222400641358798172.post-59042142451161371622019-03-21T10:03:00.000-07:002019-03-21T10:03:13.291-07:00Wahl'd KurdsIn our 30th year of doing this, it's only fitting that would-be scofflaws still try to fool the commissioners and get around the rules, specifically by picking illegal wild cards. The record number of wild card criminals came in <A HREF="http://prencaacontest.blogspot.com/2019/03/great-moments-in-pool-history-2002.html">2002</A>, when eleven people tried and failed to confound us. This year, only two cagey crooks came and went. And, even after 30 years, our delight in naming these misdemeanants has not diminished. So let's all hear it for <B>J Broder</B>, who this year picked #25 Buffalo (in the <A HREF="http://www.davidkedson.com/APTop25.htm">AP top 25</A> linked to in the Rules) as his wild card but before that hadn't picked an illegal wild card since all the way back in 2009, and for <B>R Simon</B>, who picked #14 Kansas as his wild card.
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Our most popular wild card selections were 5-seed Mississippi State (picked by 11) and 7-seed Cincinnati (also picked by 11), followed by 7-seed Wofford (8), 5-seed Auburn (7), 9-seed Washington (5), 8-seed VCU (3: <B>Atkinson, M Josephs, Templeton</B>), and 8-seed Syracuse (2: <B>E Pogach, Rubinson</B>). One entrant each chose 12-seed Murray State (<B>Steinhardt</B>), 11-seed and play-in game loser St. John's (<B>Avila</B>), 9-seed UCF (<B>L Leach</B>), 8-seed Utah State (<B>Warner</B>), and 9-seed Oklahoma (<B>Sup Leach</B>).
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Special mention goes to three contestants who chose wild cards that were not invited to play: <B>Doug Dye</B>, who picked Texas; <B>M Kleiman</B>, who picked Alabama; and <B>Kirchoff</B>, who picked first-round NIT loser Toledo.DKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718686831211419521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7222400641358798172.post-85842443272449895682019-03-21T09:21:00.001-07:002019-03-21T09:21:31.527-07:00Great Moments in Pool History - 2002<font size="6">2002 - an Entry Form is Born</font>
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In our lucky 13th contest, the commissioners decided to go digital. With our entry form, at least. For two years, we'd had an optional computerized entry form, but it was basically a fill-in document. In 2002, we went whole hog (though totally <i>not</i> Razorback). After consulting computer experts from all over the globe (well, actually we consulted one commissioner from the privacy of his living room), we came up with a version of the very entry form we still use today.
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There were those who complained about the newfangled form, mostly about how we'd have nothing left to write about in our newsletters (this was still six years before we took the further technological leap of converting our newsletter system to blog posts). Prior to 2002, a large percentage of our newsletters were devoted to entrants hilariously misspelling team names, picking the same team twice (sometimes more than twice), forgetting to choose conference champions, or miscounting the number of teams they chose at large (sometimes too many, mostly too few). With all that taken away, the critics complained, what in the world would we write about?
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Our contestants answered at the top of their electronic lungs, picking eleven (11) illegal wildcards (out of 120 entrants). It's a record that still stands.DKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718686831211419521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7222400641358798172.post-45075202929358442602019-03-19T08:28:00.000-07:002019-03-19T13:31:40.280-07:00Great Moments in Pool History - 1996/1997<font size="6">1996/1997 - the Lunardi Years</font>
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Everybody's heard of Joe Lunardi, the self-proclaimed "Bracketologist" who's all over ESPN from December to March, year after year. Well, back in 1996 hardly anyone had heard of him. He was an assistant AD at St. Joseph's and was involved with a fabulous publication called the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook.
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He was also a contestant in our contest.
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<font size="1">(1996 Standings)</font>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAYjysY1R9Kw79h4dGi_pAQF5Q6F5EZGmsLze6oYUi4ek7C6bVRULH6EysXZ25GJZzjaL2xff6YzkLjFntKidvhkrOXTFvlFt2KYphBAACyaxJUjQ51-zH1QiA8-pwKeDXvMWo0N6GGGg/s1600/IMG_1740.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAYjysY1R9Kw79h4dGi_pAQF5Q6F5EZGmsLze6oYUi4ek7C6bVRULH6EysXZ25GJZzjaL2xff6YzkLjFntKidvhkrOXTFvlFt2KYphBAACyaxJUjQ51-zH1QiA8-pwKeDXvMWo0N6GGGg/s320/IMG_1740.JPG" width="240" height="320" data-original-width="480" data-original-height="640" /></a></div>
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In 1997, Mr. Lunardi had a couple of phone conversations with one of our commissioners. In possibly our proudest pool-related moment, he told us our contest was the best pool in which he'd ever played (seriously, he really said that).
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<font size="1">(1997 Standings)</font>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRhxklUa0pTWvD0q8t_EK0hnWIvpHlHx8UEKNtpmADSKeI-I-ERIyO5UaBKXOi9E5ZooyW6wkJSJO_7v5Axr8_CRFDnNVkLJ7-AjV79P6xwdltsqyqb5bU7dxdgUQoMBwAeMkOmRSSrHg/s1600/IMG_1739.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRhxklUa0pTWvD0q8t_EK0hnWIvpHlHx8UEKNtpmADSKeI-I-ERIyO5UaBKXOi9E5ZooyW6wkJSJO_7v5Axr8_CRFDnNVkLJ7-AjV79P6xwdltsqyqb5bU7dxdgUQoMBwAeMkOmRSSrHg/s320/IMG_1739.JPG" width="240" height="320" data-original-width="480" data-original-height="640" /></a></div>
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In 1997 Lunardi started writing a Blue Ribbon NCAA prediction column, which was soon picked up by ESPN. Coincidence? We think not. Though we'll never know for sure because Lunardi stopped taking our calls. The rest, as they say, is history.
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For the record, the world's best-known bracketologist finished 18th in our contest in 1996, and tied for 43rd in 1997. On one of his entry forms, he picked Syracuse twice (both as conference champion and at-large, which was possible (though not recommended) in those days because the entry form was still on paper).
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And we're not bitter at all. Nope, not one bit.DKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16718686831211419521noreply@blogger.com0