And The Winner Is.... (Part II)

Below is the acceptance speech that I received from Jim Clark as the winner of this year's Six Degrees of MVNUSID bracket contest sponsored by Outback Steakhouse. Enjoy! :)

I had a dream!
By Jim Clark (NCAA GURU)
April 4, 2012

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration of NCAA basketball prognostication in the history of our nation and the Six Degrees of MVNUSID Bracket Contest sponsored by Outback Steakhouse.

Several weeks ago, a great American named Dave Parsons, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, sent out an email with an invitation to join the Six Degrees of MVNUSID Bracket Contest sponsored by Outback Steakhouse. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to many who had been anxiously awaiting the opportunity to avoid the flames of withering injustice and to correctly pick the 2012 NCAA Tournament Champion. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long nights of our captivity.

But many years later, there are many who still have not won the big prize. Many years later, the life of many in our group is still sadly crippled by the manacles of improper selections and the chains of poor decision-making. Many years later, there are Six Degrees of MVNUSID Bracket Contest sponsored by Outback Steakhouse members living on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity which includes ownership of the Outback Steakhouse Gift Card. Many years later, Six Degrees of MVNUSID Bracket Contest sponsored by Outback Steakhouse members are still languishing in the corners of American society and finding themselves an exile in their own land of misfortune. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to cash a check (or claim an Outback Steakhouse Gift Card). When the architects of our Six Degrees of MVNUSID Bracket Contest wrote the magnificent words - “please join my group”, they were signing a promissory note to which every one of us was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men and a few women, yes, men as well as women, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of an Outback Steakhouse Gift Card.

But there is something that I must say to you my friends who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining your rightful place you must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for an Outback Steakhouse Gift Card by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have never, ever come close to winning the Six Degrees of MVNUSID Bracket Contest sponsored by Outback Steakhouse. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for greatness left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of ridicule.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I had a dream. It was a dream deeply rooted in the quest for greatness as well as humility.

I had a dream that one day I would rise up again and live out the true meaning of the creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men (and women) are not created equal when it comes to predicting basketball games."

I had a dream that my three little granddaughters will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by whether their Grandpa won the Six Degrees of MVNUSID Bracket Contest sponsored by Outback Steakhouse.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to my office with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair an Outback Steakhouse Gift Card. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of the Six Degrees of MVNUSID into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood and sisterhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that one day maybe each and every one of us would be privileged to redeem an Outback Steakhouse Gift Card.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

Let freedom ring from the rolling hills of the village of Cedarville!

Let freedom ring from Mount Vernon Nazarene to Cedarville University!

Let freedom ring from every Outback Steakhouse in the USA!

Let freedom ring from everyone eating a delicious Bloomin’ Onion.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of us as God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "I have won an Outback Steakhouse Gif Card, I have won an Outback Steakhouse Gift Card! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, I am free at last!"

And The Winner Is...

I'm pleased to announce that the winner of this year's Six Degrees of MVNUSID bracket contest sponsored by Outback Steakhouse is Jim Clark.

Jim, who is the assistant sports information director at Cedarville University, made his move after the Elite Eight round. George Hartz maintained his lead heading into the Final Four as he was one of 12 of the 69 entrants in my contest to pick three of the final four teams in the field correctly. He held a 950-920 lead over both Troy Current and Chris Bean at that point with Troy joining him in picking Ohio State to win it all and Chris having had his predicted champion, Duke, eliminated back in the first round. For his performance, George earned the coveted Bloomin' Onion card for that round.

In the Final Four, Jim joined eight other participants in correctly picking Kentucky and Kansas to advance to the national championship game as he claimed the Bloomin' Onion card for the round. At that point, it came down to who would win the championship game to see who would take home the grand prize.

In the title contest, Kentucky prevailed to give Jim the title, bragging rights, and the $45 voucher that Outback Steakhouse so generously donated. (Yes, originally, it was supposed to be $25, but they are so cool that they upped the ante.) I'm also throwing in a Bloomin' Onion card for runner-up, Jay Stancil, who only entered because Outback was involved, and I drew one more name from among the people who correctly picked Kentucky as the champion and that Bloomin' Onion card goes to Amanda Rykoff.

And for those wondering how bad my wife, Carla, beat me this year...she finished 12th out of 69 people with 1290 points, while I was a distant 22nd with 1200 points.

A big thank you to Outback for sponsoring the prizes for this year's contest. It would be great if you each took the time to follow them on Twitter and dropped them a note. Also, thanks to everyone who played along as this was the biggest field of participants yet. Here's hoping that even more people will join in on the March Madness next year.

Bloomin' Winners in the Bracket Contest

Well, NCAA March Madness is heating up as the Elite Eight games started today with half of the Final Four field determined. I've been on the road with our baseball team for most of the past two weeks and it's time to catch everyone up on what's been happening in the Six Degress of MVNUSID bracket contest sponsored by Outback Steakhouse.

The first day of action a week ago Thursday in the round of 64 saw a lot of people do extremely well as there were 11 of the 69 entrants tied after the day ended with 14 correct out of 16 games for 140 total points. I selected Adam Jackman as the Bloomin' Onion card winner out of the group that was tied since he went the longest without missing a game as he correctly picked the first 11 games before missing one. Ironically, Adam informed me that this was the first time he has ever entered a March Madness contest.

The second day of action saw the upsets begin to happen and that also led to a new leader atop the contest standings. Eric Smith claimed the second day Bloomin' Onion card after not only picking 13 of the 16 games correctly, but also taking over the contest lead in the process with 260 points total to edge Adam for the top spot as the round came to a close.

As the action moved to the round of 32, two entries rose to the top - Jace Wolford and George Hartz, who both correctly picked 13 of the 16 games for 260 points. George vaulted to the top of the contest leaderboard with 500 total points, while Jace made up for a sluggish first round (190 points) to jump into fourth place with 450 total points. I selected Jace as the Bloomin' Onion card winner based on the fact that he bounced back so well from his slow start. As a runner, he knows well that it's not how fast you start but how strong you finish.

The Sweet Sixteen saw 11 of the 69 contest entrants correctly pick six of the eight teams to advance as they each scored 240 points in the round. George stayed atop the leaderboard with 610 points followed closely by Chris Bean as they were two of the 11 people to correctly pick six of the eight winners. I selected Chris as the Bloomin' Onion card winner in exchange for the fact that he was the only one out of the 11 who has already lost his pick to win the entire tournament - Duke. Hopefully, the solace of a Bloomin' Onion will mask the pain of losing your champion, Chris. :)

That sets the stage for the Elite Eight which got under way on Saturday with Louisville and Ohio State both advancing. 15 of the entrants have now lost their predicted champion, and Kentucky reigns as the team picked the most to win it all - 30 times or by nearly half of the entrants. We'll see how the rest of this plays out and whether or not George can hang on to win the coveted Outback Steakhouse grand prize - a free dinner and bragging rights! (George's bracket is below.)


On a side note...it's now official. After a rare victory over my wife in last year's contest, she has already locked up the title in our house in this year's contest as we both have all the same picks remaining and she's got a huge lead on me. That mean's that she has prevailed in 11 of the last 20 years since we started competing against each other. Congratulations, Carla!

Home Where She Belongs

Well, I'm a little tardy on this update, but I am pleased to report that my grandma has now been home for a little over two weeks after eight weeks in a rehab facility following her fall that required surgery for a broken femur.

While Grandma is still a long way from being fully recovered and is using a walker to get around, she is very happy to be back in the cozy confines of her own home, sleeping in her own bed, eating her own food, and petting her dog, Molly. She got home in time to watch her Ohio State Buckeyes play in the NCAA hoops tournament (albeit too short a stay for her liking) and her Cincinnati Reds get off to an exciting 3-0 start to the new season as they begin defense of their NL Central title.

As I mentioned in my last update about Grandma a month ago, I cannot even begin to say thank you enough to all of my friends, Twitter followers, and total strangers who have taken the time to drop Grandma a card. Through the wonders of social media, she has received more mail than I ever thought was possible.

In the last update, I mentioned some of the amazing things she had received from colleges, pro sports teams, and media personalities. After that update, she also got a signed commemorative basketball from Pat Summitt, the all-time winningest women's basketball coach (see above). Seems appropriate with the NCAA Women's Final Four going on to post a picture of that since Tennessee has been a frequent member of that group over the years.

However, the package that Grandma received that may have caused the biggest stir came from the star of tonight's ABC Secret Millionaire episode, Diane Heavin. If you have been following this story from the beginning, Grandma, who turns 89 later this month, broke her femur when she fell on her way to Curves for her 250th visit. Well, Curves posted my initial blog on their Facebook page and contacted me several times to check up on her throughout her rehab, so I knew that they were up to something.

Well, it turns out that Diane, the co-founder of Curves along with her husband, took the time to personally put together a package of Curves goodies to send to Grandma. Along with a water bottle, a towel, a bag to carry her workout stuff in, a necklace, some magazines and other items, there was a Curves' 300 visit shirt!


Now, Grandma and I had joked around after the initial accident that maybe if Grandma worked hard at her rehab that maybe Curves would count those daily rehab visits in the nursing home towards her Curves' visit total. Well, now that the 300 visit shirt was in her hands, she told me during one of our nightly phone calls that she was afraid that she couldn't wear it because she hadn't earned it. I decided to play dumb and asked her who the package came from. When she told me, I let her know who Diane was. Without missing a beat, she replied like only my feisty grandma can - "Well, I guess it's ok to wear it then!" :) She has also reiterated over and over and over again how glad she is that she joined Curves and how much it meant to her before the accident and how much more it means to her now. She really could be the poster child for the company.

Grandma still has plenty of work ahead of her and continues to work with a physical therapist who comes to her house as the next step is to get her using a cane instead of the walker. She is hoping to be up to taking the Buckeyes up on their offer of attending the annual spring football game on April 23 when they have generously offered to let us watch the game from the pressbox. If that happens, I'll get to make my first-ever visit to the 'Shoe with the lady who instilled my love of sports and the Buckeyes into me.

Again, I can't say thank you enough for your letters, cards, prayers, and encouragement. You have all made a big difference and my grandma, my family, and I can't show our appreciation enough!

Final Four is Really Final Two

As Butler and VCU got set to tip off the Final Four action in Houston tonight, the road to the Six Degrees of MVNUSID bracket contest title is winding down. In fact, when the final horn sounds in the Kentucky-UCONN game, the champion of my contest will be crowned. More on that later.

Once again, the NCAA Tournament has not disappointed with all the upsets, buzzer-beaters, and great performances. Whoever the marketing genious was who coined the term March Madness, deserves extra props this year as for the first time ever there are no No. 1 or No. 2 seeds in the Final Four. And, we are guaranteed that a true Cinderalla will play in the championship game on Monday with No. 8 Butler and No. 11 VCU battling it out in the semifinals for a chance at their One Shining Moment.

Taking a look at the latest standings in my bracket contest, George Hartz is still in the lead with 60-point lead or more on the rest of the 68-entrant field. George added to his lead by getting five of the eight picks right in the Sweet Sixteen games and then joined 22 other entrants in the contest to get one of the Final Four teams correct.

However, based on the possible points remaining and the current standings, there are only two possible winners remaining in this year's contest. Looking to pass George to claim the $25 gift card and the coveted bragging rights that go with it are either Josh Wood or Steve Wilging. Josh is currently in second place right behind George and has been among the leaders the entire contest. He can lock up the victory tonight if Kentucky, who is his pick as the national champion, can advance past UCONN. Matt Hannaford also picked Kentucky to win the title, but he's too far back in the standings to pass Josh.

The other person vying for the title is Steve, who has UCONN as his pick to win the title. Steve is a junior at Mount Vernon Nazarene University and a member of the men's soccer team. If UCONN beats Kentucky tonight, he will move ahead of George and Josh. Steve, Wade Foley, and Niki Murray each picked UCONN to win the national title, but Steve is currently ahead of the other two and would win it all.

So, just like most of the experts would say about the second semifinal tonight, it's for all the marbles when UCONN and Kentucky tip off at 9:23 p.m. ET. However, while the Six Degrees of MVNUSID winner will get determined tonight, don't count out those Butler Bulldogs on Monday night when they get their second straight shot at national title after coming up just inches short on a game-winner at the buzzer last year.

And Then There Were Eight...

Well, the madness has continued and now we have reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. There continue to be plenty of great games, surprising upsets, and dominating performances along the way. And, it’s starting to take its toll on the brackets.

After breezing through the early rounds unscathed and moving up to as high as 24th overall out of 5.9 million entries worldwide, Six Degrees of MVNUSID contest leader and WBNS Channel 10 weatherman Josh Poland who had at least a 50-point lead on the rest of the field after the first two rounds saw his bracket begin to evaporate like dew on a summer morning. He went 0-for-4 on the first day of the Sweet Sixteen before finally getting two picks right on the second day, but it was enough of a hit that it dropped him back into fourth place – 70 points behind the top spot.

Speaking of the top spot, we have a new leader atop the standings. George Hartz, one of my running buddies and the captain of the Mount Vernon Police Department, correctly picked five of the Elite Eight winners to blow past the rest of the field and take a 60-point lead on his nearest challengers. Although he has a passion for Krispy Kreme donuts (see the photo from his 40th birthday party), he told me that PF Changs would be his restaurant of choice if he won. And who can blame him…their lettuce wraps are amazing!

However, George is going to have to be perfect the rest of the way as his predicted champion, Ohio State, along with 11 other contestants in the current top 20, was knocked out by Kentucky on a last-second shot last night. Here's a look at George's bracket below:


That leaves the door open for several people to possibly move into the top spot as the Elite Eight games begin on Saturday. Nate Okuley, one of my former student workers and a current MVNU admissions counselor, and Josh Wood, another former MVNU student and WNZR sports announcer who has stayed around the top of the leaderboard for most of the contest, are currently tied for second place. Nate has the best chance to win the overall title with a whopping 880 possible points still remaining in his bracket and North Carolina as his predicted national champion. Josh still has his predicted champion, Kentucky, on the board along with 560 possible points remaining.

Well, as the games continue on Saturday, we've also reached the point where 18 of the 68 people in the contest have already been eliminated due to having either no possible points remaining or not enough to catch the current leader. There are still 17 entrants with their predicted national champion still alive, and amazingly even the person in 67th place right now, Niki Murray, has a chance to win it all since she has UCONN still alive as her champion. Stay tuned to see what happens!

"The Ball is Up...."

Well, the action got tipped off in a big way on Thursday as March Madness and the NCAA Tournament got under way. Upsets, buzzer-beaters, comebacks, and Cinderella shoe-fittings all began to take place as a national audience watched.

My second annual Six Degrees of MVNUSID bracket contest got under way as well with a record 68 entrants - the same size as the tournament field - all vying for a $25 gift card to the restaurant of their choice and bragging rights.

Well, it only took one game to wipe out the perfect bracket chances of 13 of those prognosticators and then by the time the second game was over we were down to just 30 perfect brackets left. By the time that Morehead State finished off their upset of Louisville in the third game of the tournament, only WBNS 10TV meteorologist Josh Poland and Central Methodist sports information director Kelcey Zutavern were left with perfect brackets.

After the dust had settled from the day's 16 games, Jacob Wood (also known as "Gator" due to his love of the Florida Gators) stood alone at the top of the heap as he correctly picked 15 of the 16 games. His only blemish came with the Morehead State upset, but less than 5% of the people nationally who filled out the brackets had seen that one coming. Gator (above), who is a former student worker of mine while he attended Mount Vernon Nazarene University, is hoping that his picks can continue to pan out so he can enjoy his winnings at Chick-fil-A. You can see a copy of Gator's bracket below:


Hot on Gator's tail are Josh Poland, Rob Oller, and Josh Wood, who each correctly picked 14 of 16 games on the first day. Rob is a sports writer for the Columbus Dispatch, while Josh is Gator's brother as the Wood family combined for a great showing on the first day.

Well, it's about time to get comfortable for another 12-hour journey of ups and downs, dunks and 3-pointers, old favorites and new heros to take the spotlight. Enjoy the ride!

And the Winner is.......

Carla Parsons! Yes, my wife successfully defeated all 52 challengers to win the inaugural Six Degrees of MVNUSID bracket contest. While it is no shock to me that she won since she has now beaten me in 11 of the past 18 years, it has been very funny to watch all of my other friends and so-called experts (numerous sports information directors and other sports PR people, a sportswriter from a major newspaper, and a TV anchor) fall by the wayside to her picks this year as well.

Carla finished with a total of 1,230 points as she correctly picked Duke to win the 2010 national championship. She has been a fan of the Blue Devils for a long time now, and that loyalty paid off for her in this year's contest. One final look at her bracket (below) shows why she was able to finish in the top 3.4% of ESPN's contest as she finished 21,043rd out of 4.8 million brackets that were posted this year.


I also want to give a special shoutout to Mike Schaffer and Toby Boyce, who finished second and third with 1,120 points and 1,060 points respectively as they also both correctly picked Duke to cut down the nets in Indianapolis.

Well, if you are like me, you really enjoyed this year's tournament. From the exciting first round that included a bunch of upsets to Butler's near-miss at the buzzer in a classic national championship game between a David and a Goliath, I am hard-pressed to remember a tournament that I enjoyed more from start to finish. I also think that a large part of that enjoyment came through interacting with all of you through social media and the bracket contest, which again fits with the premise of this blog that we are all connected. It's sad to think that next year's event may get watered down with the expansion to a 96-team format, but I'm going to chose to remember this year for what it was and not fret over another bad decision by the NCAA just yet.

Thanks again for participating. I'm sorry that I don't have video of Carla's happy dance when she locked up her win, but I may be able to sneak a picture of her enjoying her winning dinner tonight before we go to the Daughtry concert in Columbus.

And Then There Were Three...

Yes, I know that if you have been following this blog for the past couple of weeks as we've traversed through the madness that has been March and the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament you are thinking to yourself that I must not have passed my basic math classes.

The Final Four is now set in Indianapolis this coming Saturday with the likes of perennial powers Duke and Michigan State welcoming a long-awaited return trip from West Virginia and new kid on the block Butler, the hometown favorite who will be playing just 19 miles from its campus.

The journey from 65 to 4 has been a fun one to watch along the way and I would love to read your comments as to what your favorite memories have been so far and also what clips you expect to see in the new version of One Shining Moment when the 2010 champion is crowned on Monday night.

One thing that has made this year's tournament a lot of fun for me personally is having the Six Degrees of MVNUSID bracket contest in full effect with 52 of my friends and colleagues along for the ride. It has actually been the ideal way for me to kick off my blog and the premise behind it as I've introduced you to some of the people in my life using the avenue of sports to do it. The $25 gift card prize is a small price to pay to bring people from all walks of my life together.

Speaking of the bracket contest standings (and relating them back to the title of this blog entry), we are now down to three possible scenarios to determine the winner.

Before we get to scenarios, though, here is a quick look at the leaderboard. My wife, Carla (above with our two girls), is not only beating me handily...she is on top in the standings with 750 total points. She was one of three people to correctly pick two of the Final Four teams along with Eric Smith and Stacey Deal. She currently holds a 20-point lead over both Stacey and Sara Williams, who sit at 730 points. Alex Connell is a close fourth at 720 points.

Now, on to the scenarios. The only teams anyone in our bracket contest has remaining are Duke and West Virginia, who will play each other on Saturday night in the national semifinals. If Duke wins that game, then Carla (see her bracket below) will win the bracket contest regardless of who wins the national championship game on Monday since she picked Duke to be the national champion. Several other people picked Duke to win the national title, but none of them can catch Carla in total points.


If West Virginia beats Duke, that opens the door for either Stacey (Stacey's bracket) or Julie Burke (Julie's bracket) to win the overall title. For Stacey to win, she needs West Virginia to lose in the national championship game, while a Mountaineer national title would not only send West Virginia native Julie into a couch-burning tizzy, but also would provide her with some restaurant eating options courtesy of the $25 gift card since she picked WVU to cut down the nets. Michael MacEachern also picked West Virginia to win the title, but he would finish 10 points behind Julie in second place if that happens.

So, while most of us can now throw our brackets out and root for our favorite team left in the tournament, there is still some excitement left as we head into the final weekend of college hoops action. It's been a great journey and I'm glad that each of you has been along for the ride.

Halfway Down the Road to the Final Four

The first two teams advanced to the Final Four in this year's NCAA men's basketball tournament on Saturday night. No. 5 Butler extended its winning streak to 24 straight games and punch its first ever ticket to the Final Four by holding off No. 2 Kansas State to earn the right to play basically at home in Indianapolis. Then, No. 2 West Virginia held off No. 1 Kentucky to lock up its first trip to the Final Four in 51 years. The final two spots will be filled on Sunday when No. 1 Duke squares off with No. 3 Baylor and No. 5 Michigan State takes on No. 6 Tennessee. Both games should be a lot of fun to watch.

With the Kentucky and Kansas State losses, only five people out of 53 in the Six Degrees of MVNUSID bracket contest have their predicted national champion left. Julie Burke and Michael MacEachern both went with West Virginia, while Mike Schaffer, Toby Boyce, and my wife, Carla, each selected Duke.

Speaking of the bracket contest, Alex Connell (pictured above) has regained the lead in the standings with 720 points despite the fact that he lost his national champion pick when Kansas State went down. In his bracket below, you will see that he picked Baylor to upset Duke on Sunday and West Virginia to advance all the way to the national title game.


Moving into second place with 670 points is my wife, Carla. She is also tied for second place with the most points remaining at 560 with Mike Schaffer and Toby Boyce. Michael MacEachern, the sports information director at Savannah College of Art and Design, has the best chance to win the whole thing as he still has 720 possible points remaining.

Of the 53 people who entered my contest, 35 have now been eliminated from having a shot at the $25 gift card including myself. However, I'm still holding out hope for bragging rights in my own house. For me, it simply comes down to one game tomorrow: Baylor versus Duke. If Baylor can send the final No. 1 seed packing, then I will beat Carla by 10 points. However, if Duke wins, then Carla will make it 11 wins in 18 years in our own personal contest AND she will still have a shot at the overall prize.

On a final note, I have a great opportunity to work at the NCAA women's regional at the University of Dayton on Sunday. Nate Okuley and I are heading down early in the morning and will get to see the machine known as the UCONN women try to extend their record-setting 74-game winning streak against Iowa State and then watch Florida State take on Mississippi State. If you watch the games on the ESPN family of networks, you might just see us working courtside.

Sweet Sixteen is in the Books

The NCAA Tournament continues to march on and the Sweet Sixteen is now in the books after the final four teams advanced to the Elite Eight. St. Mary's and Northern Iowa both saw their Cinderalla runs come to an end with losses to Baylor and Michigan State respectively. Duke downed Purdue in a low-scoring game, and Tennessee used a balanced team attack to sneak by Ohio State, which relied way too heavily on the Evan Turner show to try to get to the next round.

Speaking of the Buckeye game, I'm going to digress for a moment. Yes, I'm a Buckeye fan. It was hard to watch them get out-hustled and out-worked by Tennessee, but I'll give credit where credit is due and say that Tennessee deserved to win that game more than Ohio State did based on those two traits and more importantly better team play. While Evan Turner is a great player and one of the two top candidates for national Player of the Year honors, it takes a team to win a title and last night showed that.

One other comment I would like to make about last night's game is the fact that I really appreciate all the 'congratulatory' texts, tweets, and e-mails on Ohio State's loss. I always find it humorous that people love to rub in the loss of my team despite the fact that their team wasn't even playing in the game or in some cases didn't even qualify for the tournament. I'm not one to talk smack about other teams - I just try to be a fan of my own. I'm always quick to give credit where credit is due (see above for example), and I try not to pile on my friends' misery when one of their teams lose because we'll all be in those shoes more often than not. Oh well, I guess they have to find some way to get their frustration out since their team is no longer playing.

OK, now that I have that off my chest, let's take a quick look at the updated Six Degrees of MVNUSID bracket contest. Sara Williams (pictured above in full character) has regained her 10-point lead over Alex Connell after both of them along with six other people got five of the eight teams correct advancing to the Elite Eight. Sara, whose bracket is below, now has 650 points, while Alex is right behind with 640 points. Mark Colachico is also a close third with 630 points in what is shaping up to be a great race to the finish. Alex has the best chance to win with 880 possible points remaining, while Jay Stancil and Michael MacEachern who are both well back in the standings right now both have 800 possible points remaining and could make a late surge to the title.


We have also reached the point in the contest where we have our first three entrants to be eliminated from title contention based on possible points remaining and their current score. I wanted to give a special shoutout to Nate Okuley, an admissions counselor at Mount Vernon Nazarene University and one of my former student workers, Rodney Yoder, an assistant coach for the Mount Vernon Nazarene University women's basketball team, and Rob Oller. a sports writer for the Columbus Dispatch. I wish I had great parting gifts for you, but thank you for your part in making this contest a lot of fun to follow.

Oh, and I almost forgot....you need to check the leaderboard and compare my point total with that of my wife. That's all I'm saying. Enjoy today's Elite Eight games and see if Gus Johnson gets to call another buzzer beater.

March Madness....and then there were 12

Well, if you are like me, you did not get a lot of sleep last night because you were glued to the action as the first day of play in the Sweet Sixteen got under way. No. 5 Butler began the day by sending No. 1 Syracuse packing in a great game and the day concluded with No. 2 Kansas State surviving in double overtime against No. 6 Xavier in an instant classic. Throw in wins by No. 1 Kentucky and No. 2 West Virginia and half of the Elite Eight field is set.

One thing that the two great games had in common on Thursday night was the fact that Gus Johnson was the play-by-play announcer for CBS. Gus, who became a trending topic on Twitter last night during the games, has become my favorite March Madness play-by-play guy over the past few years and he always seems to get the upsets or games that go right down to the wire. I'm hoping at some point to interview Gus for this blog and find out more about the man that loves to watch a Cinderalla "rise and fire" and "climb the mountain." For some Gus Johnson fun, check out www.gusjohnsongetsbaskets.com.

A quick look at the Six Degrees of MVNUSID tournament bracket contest shows that Alex Connell (pictured above courtesy of a photo my wife found for me on the internet) has opened up the biggest lead of the contest so far as he now has 600 points to take a 30-point lead on Sara Williams (570 points). Alex correctly picked all four winners along with Matt Miller last night. Sara's one miss happened to be Syracuse, who she had going on to win the national title. Alex's bracket is listed below:


As we start Friday's Sweet Sixteen action, three people with the best shot to win the contest are John White (1,040 possible points remaining), Jennifer Hamerla (1,000 ppr), and Stacey Deal (1,000 ppr), who ironically all picked Ohio State to win it all. For that trio to have a shot, the Buckeyes are going to need a great performance against Tennessee to advance to the Elite Eight.

And, one final note to my wife: Carla, I'm hot on your tail just 30 points behind. I'm going to catch up today.

March Madness Continues...Sweet Sixteen Style

Well, it's been a few days since I've updated the blog and the Six Degrees of MVNUSID bracket contest standings. I've been trying to get reacquainted with my family and also back into my normal work routine (whatever that is for an SID) after 12 days in Florida with our baseball team.

March Madness will pick back up tonight with four games in the Sweet Sixteen as half the field for the Elite Eight will be determined. There are some interesting upset possibilities with No. 12 Cornell looking to try to knock off No. 1 Kentucky and No. 11 Washington trying to figure out No. 2 West Virginia in a pair of David vs. Goliath match-ups although I won't be shocked if either underdog wins. I also think the No. 2 Kansas State-No. 6 Xavier and No. 1 Syracuse-No. 5 Butler games will be good games to watch, too.

So, back to the bracket contest. First, I need to let all of you know that there were three additional entries in the contest to get us up to 53 total. Andrea Cambern, Stacey Deal, and Sara Williams all turned brackets in to me before the start of the tournament, but just didn't get them on the ESPN.com site for one reason or another. Since I was on the road, I didn't have access to them during last week's blogs, but now that I have them in-hand I feel like I need to get them included. Amazingly, all three have had outstanding runs so far.

First, a look at Andrea's paper bracket (below) shows that she tied Kristin Adams for the best first round total with 26 correct picks out of 32 possible. When I asked Andrea (who is a news anchor at CBS affiliate WBNS Channel 10 in Columbus) what her secret was, she told me that she goes with her favorite uniform when making her choice. Not surprisingly, she has her beloved Ohio State Buckeyes going all the way to a national title. She is tied for second place currently with Alex Connell at 440 total points.


Alex, who is currently a youth pastor at High Street Church of the Nazarene in Springfield, Ohio, has managed a successful bracket so far despite as he says "being relatively uninformed" since he doesn't watch all that much college basketball since cheering on the Cougars back in his days at Mount Vernon Nazarene University. He's probably too busy planning for a wedding coming up in October. Here's a look at his bracket:


The second of the late arrivals to the contest is Stacey, who had technical difficulties trying to get a bracket submitted. Her bracket, which I've put below, was submitted online to ESPN.com and is available here, but never made it into our specific group for some reason. Stacey, who is one of my close high school friends and works for Graham & Graham law firm in Zanesville, Ohio, is not leading right now, but she has 410 total points and is poised for a big finish as she could have 7 of the 8 Elite Eight teams and still has all of her Final Four teams intact.


Finally, our leader heading into the Sweet Sixteen is Sara (pictured above with me) with 450 total points. I've listed her bracket below. After getting 25 of 32 right in the first round, she successfully went 10-for-16 in the second round. When I asked Sara (who I've dubbed my SID daughter since meeting her in San Antonio last year at CoSIDA) what her secret was, she told me it was to try to not pick with her heart. As the sports information director at Mid-America Christian University, she's a big Oklahoma State fan located right in the midst of Big 12 Conference territory. The one Big 12 team she had going to the Final Four was Kansas, but so did most of us.


And, as I wrap up, yes, my wife is still beating me handily and tied with Sara and several other people to get 10 picks right in the second round. I have already reserved myself to the fact that I'm going to lose to her in our personal contest. And, she's let me know that ever since I got back from my trip. Gotta love the smack talk!

March Madness and My Wife

Well, it was only a matter of time. It never ceases to amaze me that my wife, Carla, will do better than I do each year in the annual March Madness bracket contest. We've been married for almost 14 years now and dated for nearly four years before that, so this is the 18th year for the annual bracket contest between us of which she has won 10 of the last 17.

First let me backtrack and give you a little background. Carla is the middle of five girls who grew up in Cincinnati. Carla may be a bigger baseball fan than I am (which is saying something) and I know that she's been to more games (especially Reds' ones) than I have. She grew up playing soccer and running track including holding a school record in high school in the 800. She pretty much loves every sport, but more than that she understands them better than some guys do. You couldn't ask for a more sports-minded wife.

We met while in college at Mount Vernon Nazarene University and got married the summer after she graduated in 1996. We have two girls, Ashley (8) and Kylie (soon to be 5). She also works at MVNU in the Institutional Research and Compliance Office.

OK, now back to the contest. I went into this year's bracket thinking that I was going to be able to add to my brief two-year winning streak because Carla hasn't been able to watch all that much college basketball this year due to spending so much time with our girls when I have to work late evenings which happens a lot. I thought I made some good picks, so I was confident that the winning streak would continue.

Boy, could I have been more wrong. I had a horrible first day with all the upsets as I got just eight picks right. However, when I followed that up by going 14-for-16 the second day to trail her by just one, I thought that maybe there was a chance.

Then, along came yesterday and the start of the second round. Carla proceeded to go 6-for-8 missing just the upset of No. 1 Kansas (along with nearly three million other people) and No. 11 Washington's win over No. 3 New Mexico. Those picks not only vaulted her well ahead of me, but right to the top of our 50-person contest. I received numerous messages from friends asking if it was rigged and also just laughing at me for my ineptness and her success. It was brutal, but pretty funny at the same time.

When I asked Carla what her strategy was, she told me that she looked for teams that were playing their best basketball at the end of the year. For example, she picked No. 10 St. Mary's to be right where they are and even to move on to the Elite Eight. Obviously, it paid off for her. She also did not have Kansas winning the title like 23 of the 50 of us in our contest did, so she is still safe there as well. All I can say is that my wife is pretty smart when it comes to sports and I'll look forward to seeing if she can win this whole thing and beat not just me, but the rest of you as well. Her bracket is below:


Two other people deserve a shoutout for getting 5-of-8 right yesterday and that's Jason Bean and Eric Smith. Also, a shoutout to John White and Jennifer Hamerla for still having the most possible points remaining.

March Madness - Day 2 Recap

Well, the first round of the NCAA Tournament is now in the books and what a round it was. Thursday's action featured an upset at seemingly every turn and then Friday's games played out more true to seed with a few minor surprises along the way. If your bracket took a beating like mine did, don't feel bad. ESPN.com reports that out of the nearly 4.8 million brackets filled out online that not a single one made it through the first round unscathed. In fact, only three brackets finished 31-for-32 and I'm amazed that anyone could be that lucky or good.

As has been the case at each stop of the bracket contest so far, we have a new leader on top of my pool's standings - Kristin Adams, a 2005 Georgetown alum and the newest member of the Digital Royalty team. Kristin correctly picked 26 of the 32 first round games and has a one-pick lead over seven people (Mark Colachico, Julie Burke, Tim Cary, Kyle Schwerin, Wade Foley, Steve Miller, and Troy Current).

A look at Kristin's bracket (below) shows that she went fairly conservative in the first round to have the success that she did although she did pick all three No. 10 seed upset winners Georgia Tech, St. Mary's, and Missouri. Unfortunately for Kristin, though, her beloved Hoyas bowed out in the first round to No. 14 Ohio and she had picked them to go all the way to Indianapolis to cut down the nets. (Note: I personally think the hardest part of picking a bracket is figuring out how to keep your heart out of it, especially when the team you like is good and has a shot at going really deep into the tournament.)


In other notes regarding our tournament bracket contest, I'm pleased to report that I went 14-for-16 on Day 2 to make up for a horrible 8-for-16 Day 1. However, I still trail my wife by one pick as we enter the second round. How does she do it? It's also interesting to check out the column of possible points remaining as it shows who still has a legitimate chance to compete for the bracket title. While Kristin is in first place right now, she actually has the worst chance of winning the $25 gift card now as she's the first person in the 50-person contest to lose their eventual national champion. Meanwhile, Eric Smith, who is dead last with only 19 correct first round picks, is tied with five other people including my wife for the best chance to win based on most possible points remaining. It should be an interesting race.

Well, it's almost time to sit back and watch the second round get under way. I have a feeling we could see another upset or two today and I wouldn't be all that surprised if all five of the double digit seeds pull another upset and advance to the Sweet Sixteen. I can't wait to watch the Madness again!

March Madness - Halfway Through Day 2

Well, we've entered the second day of the greatest tournament on earth and I have to admit that so far I'm feeling a little letdown from all the craziness that took place yesterday. Sure, we've had No. 10 Missouri and No. 12 Cornell both pulling mild upsets, but without No. 13 Wofford being able to finish off No. 4 Wisconsin it just doesn't seem quite as exciting as yesterday.

We have a new leader atop the Six Degrees of MVNUSID bracket contest leaderboard after 24 games and it is Steve Miller. Steve, who is a junior pitcher on the Mount Vernon Nazarene University baseball team and a fellow Duke fan, has moved on top with 19 correct picks out of 24 possible ones. He's got a one-pick lead on eight other people, so it's shaping up to be quite a race.

I asked Steve what his secret was and he told me that the key is to "not overthink your picks." It's been fun watching some of the games with him while sitting in the hotel, and he definitely put a lot of thought into his bracket. Time will tell if it pays off for him. I've attached his bracket below.


After a very poor 8-for-16 showing yesterday, I'm pleased to say that I got all eight of the first half of today's picks right to move up to a more respectable 16-for-24 overall. And, even better, I have managed to move into a tie with my wife in the all-important race for bragging rights in our house.

A couple of side notes about the tournament. I've enjoyed exchanging tweets with CBS's Seth Davis the past two days and appreciate the fact that he's actually responded. It makes watching the tournament even more fun. Also, I know that two people in this contest are at the games in Milwaukee today. Watch out for Gail Sideman on press row and Eric Smith in the stands. I hope you guys are enjoying the games in person. I'm very jealous.

Well, let's see what happens with tonight's games as the Madness continues.

What a Day of Madness - Day 1 Recap

Well, the first day of the NCAA Tournament is now in the books and it was definitely a day of drama as the first 16 games featured buzzer beaters, three overtime games (one more than all of last year), seven of the 16 games being won by the higher seed, and eight of the 16 games being decided by five points or less. All in all, it definitely lived up to its name - March Madness.

One of the biggest shockers of the evening session came when my dad's alma mater No. 14 Ohio University shocked No. 3 Georgetown 97-83 to give the Big East a 1-3 record on the day. No. 9 Wake Forest also overcame an eight-point deficit in overtime to post an 81-80 victory over No. 8 Texas. The two No. 1 seeds that played flexed their muscles as Kansas and Kentucky both cruised to easy wins.

What will tomorrow's action hold as 16 more games will tip off just after noon ET again? Hopefully just as much excitement and drama as today. I enjoyed having a rare day off to just sit back and be a fan, and I'll have to try to keep updated tomorrow while working our baseball games during the afternoon before watching all the evening games.

With 16 games in the books and so many upsets, I am pleased to congratulate Troy Current (pictured above with his fiancee) as the leader in the clubhouse after the first day in my bracket contest. Troy is one of my former student workers and a current Mount Vernon Nazarene University admissions counselor. Maybe working courtside at all those Cougar games gave him all the experience he needed to become a bracketology expert. Obviously it's not helping me if you check out my personal bracket.

Troy successfully picked 13 of the 16 games and only missed on Georgetown, Vanderbilt, and Montana. When I asked Troy what his strategy was with his bracket, he told me that he did a lot of research on ESPN.com before filling it out. Obviously, all that research has paid off so far. An avid Buckeye fan, Troy only let his heart carry him so far as he has the Buckeyes falling to Kansas in the Elite Eight. (See his complete bracket below.)


In addition to Troy's success, I want to give a shoutout to the people currently breathing right down his neck in a tie for second place having correctly picked 12 of the first 16 games: Ryan Halley, Julie Burke, Michael MacEachern, Matt Miller, James Mummert, and Steve Miller. And while not leading the pack, two other sleepers to watch for our my wife, Carla Parsons, and Eric Smith, who both still have the potential to earn the most points if the rest of their picks are correct.

Speaking of my wife, I need to just admit that my brief two-year winning streak in our own personal bracket contest is well on its way to coming to a screeching halt as she correctly picked 11 of the 16 games right on Thursday, while I was a dismal 8-for-16. However, if she wins, am I really a loser since I still get to go out to dinner with her? She just gets the bragging rights once again, but what's new since it's been that way in 10 of the past 17 years anyway. Just proud to say that I have a great wife who knows her sports.

Well, time to get some sleep so that I can wake up and enjoy the madness again tomorrow. I can't wait to see which games Gus Johnson is calling.

March Madness - Day 1 Halfway Point

Well, we reached the halfway point of the first day of March Madness with eight games in the books. After a quick dinner break where I actually left my hotel room for the first time (I'm traveling with our college baseball team and we conveniently had an off-day today), I decided to recap a little bit of what's happened so far. I also wanted to give a shoutout to Matt Miller, who was the only person in my bracket contest who correctly picked the first eight games.

Matt, who is a 2004 grad of Mount Vernon Nazarene University and currently teaches seventh and eighth grade and coaches basketball at Faith Christian Academy, told me that he went with his gut when making his picks in the bracket (which I've attached below). While an Ohio State fan, he didn't go with his heart as he only took the Buckeyes as far as the Elite Eight. He also said that he got in five different pools this year and was attracted to mine because (1) it was free and (2) he could win a $25 gift card. Whatever it was, I'm glad he decided to join in.


Very few people nationally picked the first eight games correctly as there were three upsets that included No. 13 Murray State with a 66-65 win over No. 4 Vanderbilt for their first NCAA Tournament win since 1959, No. 11 Old Dominion with a 51-50 win over No. 6 Notre Dame, and No. 10 St. Mary's 80-71 win over No. 7 Richmond. Throw in Baylor's first NCAA Tournament win since 1950, BYU's double-overtime thriller over Florida that included 37 points from Jimmer Fredette, and Villanova's overtime escape from Robert Morris and it's already been an exciting first half of the day.

I would also like to give a special shoutout to Jessica Lantz and Jason Pitman, who both correctly picked the first seven games along with Matt before suffering their first loss when Butler beat Texas-El Paso. Five other people are also tied for second place with seven out of eight correct picks.

Stay tuned for more updates and enjoy the madness that might even include an Ohio University upset of Georgetown as the No. 14 Bobcats were up 12 points at the half.

Let the Madness Begin

At 12:20 p.m. ET today, March Madness tipped off with No. 7 BYU taking on No. 10 Florida to begin the exciting first round of action. The first three games featured great action and storylines. No. 11 Old Dominion knocked off No. 6 Notre Dame 51-50. Jimmer Fredette scored 37 points to lead BYU to a 99-92 double overtime win over Florida to snap Florida's 12-game NCAA Tournament winning streak and give BYU it's first NCAA Tournament win in 17 years. And, No. 2 Villanova survived a valiant effort by No. 15 Robert Morris to escape with a 73-70 overtime victory.

The two overtime games equaled the entire total number of overtime games from all of the 2009 NCAA Tournament and the margin of victory for the three games was only 11 points with seven of those coming in BYU's double overtime win.

Thanks to March Madness on Demand, you can watch every game in its entirety and I'm definitely taking advantage of that today as you can tell from the picture above. There have already been great games with one upset and nearly two others through three games and that's without Gus Johnson, who usually gets all the great games, calling a single one so far.

Thanks to the 50 people who joined my bracket contest. Through just the first three games, only five people have gotten all three picks correct. Congrats to Jason Pitman, Alex Connell, Matt Miller, Troy Current, and Jessica Lantz on leading the pack right now.

Speaking of the bracket contest, it was interesting to see who people picked as their choice to be the overall champion. 23 entries or nearly half of the 50 overall entries went with No. 1 overall seed Kansas to cut down the nets, while the No. 2 overall seed Kentucky got the nod from 16 other entrants. Duke (3), Ohio State (3), West Virginia (2), Syracuse (1), Kansas State (1), and Georgetown (1) were the rest of the picks to claim the title.

Enjoy the madness of the rest of the games today! I would love to hear some of your observations from today's action.

The Madness of March

As a sports fan, it doesn't get any better than the next three weeks as NCAA March Madness tips off on Thursday at noon. I'll be glued to the TV watching as many games as possible, rooting for the underdogs (except when Ohio State and Duke play), cheering for buzzer beaters and gravity-defying slam dunks, and taking in all the storylines that unfold as each round of games takes place on the way to the crowning of a new champion and "One Shining Moment".

One of the traditions that goes hand-in-hand with March Madness is filling out a bracket and trying to predict which team will win as well as being able to say that you called the upset when a No. 15 seed knocks off the No. 2 seed in the first round. There are many different options when it comes to these brackets with numerous free ones online as well as the office pools that you can pay to enter at work or with your friends. My wife and I always trade brackets with the winner picking a restaurant to go to and she's won 10 of the past 17 years although I am making a comeback and have a two-year winning streak going at the moment.

I figured that what better way to connect all of my online friends from Twitter and Facebook who are going to enjoy the games the next three weeks than to run a free bracket contest of my own. To encourage you to enter and also check back with my blog, I'm going to award a $25 gift card to the winner to the restaurant of their choice. So, you have nothing to lose and lots of bragging rights and a free dinner to gain.

All you need to do to enter is to go to the private group that I've set up on ESPN's site under the title Six Degrees of MVNUSID. The password is MVNUSID. Get your bracket submitted before tip off of the first game on Thursday (approximately noon ET) and then check back with the blog each day as I highlight who is winning after each round of games. I'll look forward to reading comments to as you have the opportunity to tell the world that you called the big upset as it happens.

Good luck and enjoy the Madness!