Standings After Second Weekend

Hey Everyone ... I just wanted to get these standings up tonight, as well as the Final Four scenarios incase the curiosity was killing you. I'll have a blog posted tomorrow night to inform you on what went down this past weekend, it certainly wont disappoint.

Jake Hoffman 82
Wells Family 81
Drew Smith 75
Aunt Alyson 75
Phil Imbesi 74
BG 74
Mel Smith 74
Chris Fusco 73
Chris Woody 71
Big Mike 71
Adam Tatz 70
Jenna Lawall 70
Shaun Askin 68
Uncle Kermit 68
Kenny Zuroick 67
Boy Pierce 66
Pat Shields 66
Andrea Koontz 65
Cro 65
Rocco Toulon 64
Michelle Folkerts 64
Fritz Ablao 64
Zak Tseytlin 63
Sam Woody 61
Paul Lawruk 61
Ryan Fontana 61
Dosh Whye 59
Rachael Weissman 59
EEB 58
Matt Atallian 57
Little Kermit 57
The Dennis 56
Tom Moffa 56
Nico Tennant 54
Jay Lenzini 53
Adam Cutter 53
Andrew Riexinger 53
Paul Yerkes 52
Yahsar Toliver 52
Michael J 46
Mike Smith 45
Justin Romano 31

West Virginia Wins National Championship
1st Place: Chris Woody
2nd Place: Wells Family
3rd Place: Aunt Alyson

Duke Wins National Championship
1st Place: Boy Pierce
2nd Place: Jake Hoffman
3rd Place: Drew Smith

West Virginia Loses in National Championship Game
1st Place: Wells Family
2nd Place: Aunt Alyson
3rd Place: Phil Imbesi vs. BG in a tiebreaker

Duke Loses in National Championship Game
1st Place: Jake Hoffman
2nd Place: Drew Smith
3rd Place: Wells Family vs. Boy Pierce in a tiebreaker

I'll catch up with everyone tomorrow. Be sure to come back and read the post!!!

Matt

No, You Didn't Forget to Write "State" After Your National Champion

Wow. Wow. Wow. Just wow. This NCAA tournament has just left me speechless. When the brackets came out, I felt that there would be a lot of upsets, but I didn’t expect it to quite this degree. It has left people missing multiple Final 4 teams, National Runners-Up, and in 25 (25!!!!!) of our 42 entries, without a National Champion. Included in these 25 people are myself and the much opposed Cro. While most people find themselves in emotional distress trying to figure out what happened to Kansas, they can take solace in the fact that Cro took Kansas too. The Kansas loss has me questioning my purpose in life. Why do I put this much interest into sports? Why do I care? It’s completely out of my control. I don’t understand how some one can watch a game and not care about its outcome. It’s just not programmed into my brain. I care way too much about the outcome just about every stupid game I watch. Are the players upset after they lose? Probably. But in the case of pro athletes, they heal quickly because they still make mega-millions after a loss. That’s what makes the NCAA tournament so special. After heartbreaking losses, you see it on the faces on the players. Pro sports are often too expensive for me to attend in person. And if it’s reasonably priced, it’s because the team is terrible and they can’t give the tickets away. They charge me $20 to park my stupid car when a victory isn’t guaranteed. I’ve been to one Eagles game in the past 10 years. Why would I spend $100+ for a ticket and $30 in food and drinks when I may very well leave upset? Why don’t I invest my time and interest in something I know can’t possibly make me feel this way? Why don’t I just collect stamps or something? I don’t know. So many questions and no answers. I hate sports. I don’t know what’s worse; your team losing or hated team winning? What if your team is eliminated by a hated team? It’s even worse when you know people that are fans of the hated team. It makes my blood boil. Sports are not healthy for the passionate fan. It almost always ends in heartache, save the 2008 Phillies. It always ends in frustration, embarrassment (2009 Eagles), and in some cases anger. It isn’t always this way for sports fans though. Some fan bases are treated to multiple championships, or championships reasonably close to each other. The tournament is without a doubt my favorite sporting event of the year, but it has really turned its back on me this go-round.

The tournament started out with such great promise. A handful of us had gathered at Chickie’s and Pete’s in South Philly to take advantage of nice weather and all-can-eat/drink specials. The first series of games brought much excitement. An undeserving 6-seed in Notre Dame lost to the Colonial champ Old Dominion. Cro’s Final Four team from the West, BYU, was pushed to double OT by Florida. Villanova was pushed to OT by Robert Morris. Murray State took out 4-seeded Vanderbilt on a buzzer beater. You couldn’t ask for a better start. It proved to be only a small sampling of things to come.

Cro’s arch-enemy EEB took the Anyone But Cro premise to new heights this year. He contacted the commissioner to verify Cro’s picks after submitting his bracket. Once he found out that certain match ups were different, he immediately went to work. We all knew Cro would roll up in some sort of rowdy Tennessee gear since that’s his team, so the San Diego State game was an easy target. Cro shows up in a bright orange “BRUUUUCE” T-shirt and some sort of Vols toupee. EEB rolled up in a customized SDSU t-shirt to blow up Cro’s spot. Cro would getter the better of EEB in this matchup, but EEB would get his revenge a lot sooner than he could have hoped for.

The first round of games came and went, with Cro being near the top of the standings, as per usual. He was running his yap about how great of shape he is in. Same story, different year as we all know. Then the unthinkable happens. Kansas loses to Northern Iowa and all of sudden Cro is vulnerable to all competitors. If you pick the national champion correctly, you are awarded 58 points. In this instance, by picking Kansas as his national champ, Cro dropped 57 points and now has to rely exclusively on his BYU run to the Final Four as well as his Gonzaga upset of Syracuse in Buffalo on Sunday. Cro was sending text messages saying things along the line of “a BYU win has Cro in great shape”. Needless to say, this angered me.

Immediately after the Kansas loss, I ventured to Kildare’s with EEB and Yashar to cry in some beer. I was inconsolable and had to deal with it on my terms. I drove to the bar in complete silence. I didn’t want to hear any music, I just wanted to let it soak in and get it over the only way I knew how; by rooting against everyone else. If I was miserable, everyone else had to miserable too. What I saw when I came inside immediately brightened my mood. There was EEB, still embracing the ABC cause to the fullest, in his custom made K-State shirt. He knew that a K-State win here would undoubtedly make Cro a loser for the 7th consecutive year. Sure enough, K-State would pull out the win and Cro had lost a National Champ and a Final 4 team in a matter of hours. I believe EEB’s next move is to hook up with Wedding Crashers John Beckwith and Jeremy Grey in their non-profit operation “Holy Shirts and Pants”.

Earlier this afternoon, a blowout Gonzaga loss to Syracuse sealed Cro’s fate for good. People have been asking the same question a lot this year. What happens if Cro wins? There are a couple of answers of that. #1 Cro won’t ever win. #2 If Cro wins, the ABC will shutdown and all operations will cease to exist. Since Cro will not be taking any title this year, the ABC will return in 2011 for the 8th installment.

Below are the standings. Please do not be fooled by these. While I may be in second place, I lost my national champ in Kansas and my South winner, Texas A&M this weekend. I have zero chance of winning, but it won’t be reflected in the standings until the next 2 rounds of games have been played. I am a threat to no one.

Aunt Alyson 45
Matt Atallian 42
Jake Hoffman 42
Sam Woody 41
Wells Family 41
Pat Shields 41
The Dennis 41
Adam Tatz 40
Cro 40
Jenna Lawall 40
Mel Smith 39
Rachael Weissman 39
Phil Imbesi 39
BG 39
Rocco Toulon 39
Adam Cutter 38
Jay Lenzini 38
Chris Fusco 38
EEB 38
Shaun Askin 38
Uncle Kermit 38
Zak Tseytlin 38
Kenny Zuroick 37
Yahsar Toliver 37
Little Kermit 37
Paul Yerkes 37
Big Mike 36
Paul Lawruk 36
Chris Woody 36
Ryan Fontana 36
Boy Pierce 36
Tom Moffa 36
Michael J 36
Mike Smith 35
Drew Smith 35
Andrea Koontz 35
Michelle Folkerts 34
Dosh Whye 34
Nico Tennant 34
Fritz Ablao 34
Andrew Riexinger 33
Justin Romano 31

Just a reminder, if you haven’t paid me for the bracket yet, please try to do so as soon as possible. It’s very important that we get all the funds in so the winners can collect in a timely manner. I know if you have KU winning (or Villanova, hahaha Andrew) and haven’t paid yet, you’ll have little desire to pay since you’re more than likely eliminated already.

Good luck to everyone in the coming rounds. I’ll have a completed list of remaining bracketeers by the end of next weekend. Games being again on Thursday night.

Thanks for reading, Matt.

P.S. – I don’t hate sports.

Standings After Round 1

Hey Guys .... First off, I wanted to congraulate everyone on being part of history. Last year, we set a record of 28 brackets. We totally blew that mark out of the water. We have a total of 42 entries this year. A truly unbelieveable turnout, so thanks to everyone!!

Here are the standings after the First Round .... Blog post will follow soon:

Aunt Alyson 25
Cro 24
Matt Atallian 24
Jay Lenzini 24
Jake Hoffman 24
Sam Woody 23
Phil Imbesi 23
Pat Shields 23
Mel Smith 23
BG 23
The Dennis 23
Rachael Weissman 23
Wells Family 23
EEB 22
Big Mike 22
Zak Tseytlin 22
Boy Pierce 22
Adam Tatz 22
Chris Fusco 22
Jenna Lawall 22
Adam Cutter 22
Michelle Folkerts 22
Mike Smith 21
Drew Smith 21
Andrea Koontz 21
Andrew Riexinger 21
Kenny Zuroick 21
Paul Yerkes 21
Yahsar Toliver 21
Rocco Toulon 21
Little Kermit 21
Dosh Whye 20
Paul Lawruk 20
Tom Moffa 20
Shaun Askin 20
Michael J 20
Uncle Kermit 20
Chris Woody 20
Nico Tennant 20
Ryan Fontana 20
Fritz Ablao 18
Justin Romano 17

Seventh Annual ABC Tourney Upon Us

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome back to the best NCAA Bracket Challenge in the entire country, the Anyone But Cro Invitational. It’s been a year since we last embarked on this epic journey, but the goal remains the same: To not let Cro win. He’s gone 0 for everything, we’re 6 for 6.

I do want to make it known that I’ve been hearing the most pre-tournament smack talk from Cro since 2005 when dark horse Chris Streyle took the crown. It’s been non-stop since about mid-January. He tells me over and over that this is his year, that there isn’t any way he can be stopped. He’s compiled an obnoxious spreadsheet that details 8 years of historical data, claiming to have it all figured out. The noise coming from Cro has literally been deafening for the past 3 weeks. He’s been on my ass everyday telling me the blog needs updating, and of course reminding me that he’s going to win. Thankfully, the time has come for him to put up and shut up. It’s been a brutal stretch.

There was one brief moment of rational thinking from Cro this year however. He conceded that beating EEB is a close, close second to winning the ABC crown. This puts extra pressure on the EEB bracket this year, since we all know winning the title is unattainable.

You’ll notice a link the Official 2010 Bracket on the right side of the page. To get a copy, simply click the link and it will take you to a Google Docs page. Click on the download link, hit open, and voila, breakfast!! Fill it out and send it to matt.atallian@gmail.com. I’ll send you a confirmation e-mail shortly after receiving your bracket.

Please have this filled out and e-mailed back to me no later than 12 NOON on Thursday March 18. The first games tip-off at 12:20 eastern time, and we certainly do not want to compromise the integrity of this prestigious competition.

Entry free still remains $10.00 per person. I’ll accept cash entries as well as PayPal payments which can also be found on the right side of the screen. Payouts will be determined once we have a final bracket count. Last year we had a record 30 brackets (20 of which were real). Sports Illustrated has been a staple in the ABC for years, and if Obama has time to fill out a bracket this year, we’ll be happy to have him back. The ABC has grown every single year and we hope this year will continue the trend. As always, please refer anyone you know that may be interested.

Scoring will be as follows, for a maximum of 199 points.

1st Round - 1 Point

2nd Round - 2 Points

Sweet 16 - 5 points

Elite 8 - 10 points

Final 4 - 15 points

Champion - 25 points

The bracket is really wide open this year. Any team can lose on any given night, as there truly isn’t a clear cut, hands down favorite to win this year. I wish everyone best of luck and let’s make this year a year we’ll never forget. Any questions, please feel free to send me an e-mail or Facebook message.

Matt