CRO : NOT SO SMOOTH CRIMINAL

The day was Thursday March 20th.  ABCI Regulars myself and fiance Katie Loeffler, Cro, BG, EEB, Chris and Jenna Fusco, non-entrant Mike Y, AC Billz IV and his fiance Rebecca Anzaha all descended upon Newark for this year's opening round games of the NCAA Tournament.  A change in venue was voted on and approved a few months back, as lack of gambling success in prior trips to Atlantic City had the group somehwhat discouraged at the prospects of a return trip.  The scene was Grotto's on Main Street.

It started out just about how anybody could have predicted.  Entry in Grotto's early to secure a table? Check.  BG buying a round of purple hazes, complete with ingredients written on napkin? Check.  Cro chugging a Malibu Bay Breeze at the expense of the group? Check.  Cro bragging that he had Dayton over Ohio State in the first game, as well as Harvard over Cincinnati?  Check.  Every single one of these events was expected.  It almost always starts out with him picking the first few games correctly, me not picking them correctly and then having to hear about for the next few hours.  Only this tournament was different.  This tournament featured the University of Delaware Fighting Blue Hens for the first time since 1999.  It is likely that Cro, BG, the Fusco's and the soon-to-be Cutter's were unaware of Delaware's statehood the last time the Blue Hens qualified.

Under normal circumstances, we would have remained at Grotto's the length of the day.  However, after the completion of the first few games, the bar began to crowd.  People we jockeying for position in front of the flat screens.  As I'm sure most of you are aware, the area between the bar stools and tables in the back is very narrow and not conducive to free flowing traffic during major sporting events.  There is only so much beer and water a human bladder can contain before you need a serious pee break.  In trying to get to the restrooms was quickly as possible, members of our group would slide out the back door, hop the railing onto Main St, and then walk into the main entrance in order to circumvent the crowd.  This happened over the course of a couple of hours without any issue.

Around halftime of the Delaware game, Cro, as he had done on numerous occasions before, hopped the rail to use the men's room.  Only this time, the bouncer caught him and took issue with this approach.  He immediately confronted Cro and told him this was unacceptable.  Cro tried to calmly explain the situation to the gentleman, but he was hearing none of it.  He began to "grip Cro up", told him his bracket sucked, and essentially threw Cro out of the bar.  This did not set well with members of the group.

Katie began to take matters into her own hands at this point.  In a classic Katie movie, she demanded to speak with restaurant's manager.  She very sternly told him that roughing up Cro was unacceptable.  She complained that we had spent an inordinate amount of money at his establishment, that the bar was over capacity, and Cro did not deserve to be treated in such a manner.  When the manager's response wasn't sufficient, regional manager's contact info was demanded.  Another classic Katie move.  At the end of the confrontation, I decided it was appropriate to chime in on the argument.  My Cro defense was that the bouncer was not adequately preforming his duties.  If he had allowed us to pee that way before, he should have allowed it then.  I very politely, in perfect English, without swearing, told manager he had allowed the bouncer to his job 20% of the time, and he was to blame.  The ABCI group left Grotto's and headed to Catherine Rooney's where we were treated much better, and not made to feel like criminals.  All were welcomed, no matter what color your pants were.

After Catherine Rooney's, the group left and returned to their quarters at the Courtyard by Marriott on North Campus.  Lord only knows what impressions we made at the front desk upon our return.  I'm sure if we requested video footage, it would be nothing short of a viral YouTube video.  Knowing when to pull the plug, Katie and I left campus to recover for the next day's marathon.  The remaining members of the ABCI did not.  The rest of the group invaded Main Street for a second time to visit perennial ABCI power house Fritz Ablao, who happened to be bar-tending at Klondike Kate's that night.

The next morning, I was awaken from my slumber by a text from Cro that read "I also got tossed from Kate's.  I'm a hated man in Newark."  Much to my surprise, I assumed they must have had a policy against yellow pants.  In his own version of what happened, Cro maintains that he was minding his own business talking to Fritz, first pumping in an empty bar.  A guy randomly approached him and told him he needed to leave.  End of story.  Upon review of the photographic evidence, Cro can be seen here taking up a very large portion of said bar to fist pump with his left hand.  Further review of the evidence also uncovered a gem of Cro making an apparent move on Rebecca.  While the two have a long standing history of cruises and binge drinking together, I'm sure this advancement must have taken Rebecca by surprise.  I am one to think that Fritz had enough of Cro bragging about how good his bracket is, got tired of his yellow pants, and pressed the buzzer under the bar to alert the bouncer it was time for him to remove this clearly over-served individual.  If that is indeed the case, well done to Fritz.  Your standing in the ABCI will always remain unblemished.  It should also be noted that ordering "LTI's" and telling your group of friends countless times you are drinking "LTIs" probably had something to do with your removal as well.  Needless to say, after being forcibly removed from 2 of 3 bars frequented on the day, Friday was a much much tamer day.

Now on to some basketball news.  For those of you who missed the live blogging over the weekend Cro lost 3 of his Final Four teams yesterday in what had to have been the worst day in his sporting career.  Andrew Wiggins started the day by keeping holy the Sabbath and not showing up to work against Stanford.  Not only did it cost me and my entire family our national champs, it cost Cro his national runner-up.  The day's next game saw Julius Randle and Co. hand Wichita State their first loss of the season in a thrilling 78-76 upset, costing Cro his national champ.  In a matter of 2 games, Cro went from serious contender to after thought.  The third game had Cro Final Four participant Iowa State against UNC.  The Cyclones squeaked past the Tar Heels in another trilling 2 point encounter.  And to really seal the deal, Cro's 4th Final Four team Creighton Blue Jays were handed an unfathomable 30 point loss by the Baylor Bears.  I still can't get my head around that one.  The saying is bad things happen in threes.  He lost 3 Final Four teams in one day and was kicked out of his third establishment on the weekend, the 2014 Anyone But Cro Invitational.

There were so many upsets, close games and multiple nidges this weekend that it would take a Herculean effort to recap everyone's Notable Nidges.  It certainly wouldn't be in everyone's best interest to try to decipher what all of that means for their entry.  I am going to take a different approach and list the current standings as well as the current "Max Points" for that particular bracket.  Max Points is defined as what that person can achieve if they get all of their remaining games correct. While there have been numerous eliminations, myself included, there are still a considerable amount of people who have their National Champ still standing.  The Max Points will give you a good indication of that person's bracket.

Name	Total	Max Points
Lauren Zuckerman	49	164
AC Billz IV	49	109
Chris Woody	48	163
Fritz Ablao	46	156
Chris Fusco	45	170
Pat Shields	45	150
Tom Moffa	44	164
Dosh Whye	44	154
Rachael Weissman	44	146
Kenny Zuroick	43	168
EEB	43	143
BG	43	138
Matt Ellner	42	167
Boy Pierce	42	162
Rebecca Anzaha	42	142
Shelby Riff	42	102
Ben Lobitz	41	166
Midwest Baller	41	151
Paul Lawruk	40	80
Cro	40	65
Michelle Liller	39	149
Q ME UP	39	119
Kathy Atallian	39	114
UJ	39	99
Jenna Fusco	38	73
Ryan Fontana	35	150
Nico Tennant	35	140
Big Meech	33	103
Katie Loeffler	30	55

As you can see, AC Billz IV had a great showing through rounds 1 and 2, but will begin to taper off.  He had Kansas as his champ.  The standings will begin to reflect that as the tournament progresses.  Chris Fusco has the greatest untapped potential, with the highest Max Points of 170.  Sadly, Cro can only peak at 65.  His mission now is to not finish dead last.

I hope that everyone had a great time watching the games the weekend.  Don't feel bad if your bracket didn't pan out.  There's always next year.  Cro did us all a great service by ensuring the Anyone But Cro Invitational will return for its 12th year in 2015.

Check back here for live standing updates on Thursday evening.  Obviously nothing will change with the Dayton v Stanford result because nobody had either team in the Elite 8, but there will certainly be some movement when the other games wrap up.

Thanks for reading.

UJ