The Kentucky Mercenaries outlasted a plucky comeback attempt over a Kansas team that at times looked terribly outmatched. Congratulations to long time participant Henry (Nati Nobodies) Callard whose two entries climbed from 62nd and 102nd place to finish first (and seventh) respectively. Second place was taken by Walt (Vaj) Werner, who lost his bid for the top slot when OSU went down in the semis. Gary Rhodes vaulted into third place with the Kentucky win, knocking Art (Jon Passman) Schlichter all the way down to sixth. All three will win significant cash, plus the all-important Wimpy's March Madness Championship Polo Shirt, coveted by thousands, but worn by few.
It's time to make my annual observances of the
We had 245 entries, coincidentally the exact same number of entries we had in both 2009 and 2010. This is an encouraging increase over the 227 entries from last year. We are still in a severe economic recession, gasoline is at an all time high, unemployment remains rampant, and many people have had to tighten their belts. We DID lose quite a few players. I know participants who have been involved for nearly 20 years, that took a pass the last two years. It's only through the continued efforts of several people who work tirelessly to bring in new blood that keep our numbers up and our prestige high.
One again, our players have been successful in predicting the national champion. A whopping 50% (123) players pre-selected Kentucky as our 2012 survivors. Understandably, no other team came close. A very distant North Carolina came up second with 45 picks. The MSU Spartans garnered a respectable 27 votes among the Big Ten faithful. National Runner-up Kansas tied Missouri with 12 votes each. Ohio State was another favorite with 11. From there, it was another major drop with only a handful of teams given any consideration for national glory. Baylor topped this group with four votes. Syracuse - who certainly would have been more popular if their best defensive player hadn't been declared ineligible - and Duke - who suffered an uncharacteristic 1st round exit both only snagged 3 votes. Two players from Florida obediently put their faith in Florida State, while 3 long shots were bet on Murray State, Marquette, and Vanderbilt.
36 entries predicted the Final Two. Each will receive a $10 credit towards the 2013 Wimpy's March Madness pool. The 36 recipients are:
NATI NOBODIES (CINCINNATI,OH),
ANDY LOS (ARLINGTON HTS,IL),
BOB ALMADA (ELMHURST,IL),
KATHY KNUTSON (DOWNERS GROVE,IL),
WIMPY (WOOD DALE,IL),
ED LORGEREE2 (BUFFALO GROVE,IL),
SOMO 3 (SANTA MONICA,CA), AL KLEEN
(ROCKFORD,IL), LARRY ROTHENBERG (MILWAUKEE,WI), CHRIS GRANDE (MISHAWAKA,IN), ED MATULIS (LAS VEGAS,NV), MARK ALASHAIAN (EMERSON,NJ),
JEFF SEREMAK
(VILLA PARK,IL), ROBERT CRAWFORD (HENDERSON,NV), BILL ROOKER
(ROLLING MEADOWS,IL), DEREK WESTERLUND (TWIN LAKE,MI), DAN
SHIVE (HANOVER PARK,IL), OMELETS (WOODRIDGE,IL),
JULIE REAL
(NEW ORLEANS,LA), WANNABE COACH (NORTHBROOK,IL), SARKIS SHIRINIAN
(RIVER VALE,NJ), DUNBAR (JUPITER,FL), DAN KELLY (CHICAGO,IL), BRENT JACOB (SPENCER,IA),
SHO SUZUKI (GRAND RAPIDS,MI), JEFF GOLDMAN
(NORWALK,CT), MAX (RIVER FOREST,IL), SHAUN CLARK (CHICAGO,IL), RYAN GISTER (AURORA,IL), TERRY REDDINGTON (RIDGEFIELD,CT),
ASH (PORTLAND,OR), BRETT WESTERLUND (WHITEHALL,MI), SCOTT WALKER (HENDERSON, NV), MICHELE HINNENDAEL (MILWAUKEE,WI), JIM PIETRZAK (LA GRANGE,IL),
MIRIAM TOURNAI (TINLEY PARK,IL)
In case anyone was wondering, no one has yet ever
submitted a perfect entry. A perfect score would total 3801 pts. This year, the
winning total of 3361 did not come close to the record high score from 2007 of 3626
held jointly by Paul Astorino and Paul Laliberte. Every year
around this time, there is talk in the media about how remote it would be to
fill out a perfect bracket. There is always quite a bit of media play about how
only a couple
of the 6+ million ESPN brackets predicted the first few rounds perfectly. Let me put this to rest. Assuming all teams being equal, there are only Now lets talk about some Once again, thanks go out to the players who continue to
recruit new players for the contest. Always helpful are Rick Beye, (who
often facilitates numerous entries every year from the Spring North American Bridge Championships) and Kieran Duffy, who
has recruited several successful regulars. It takes a little while to figure out how to put in a
competitive
entry, but most players come back. Please remember to keep my email
address in your online address book. If you change providers, you must drop me a
note so that I can update my records, or else you will be like the nearly 2
dozen or so people who didn't get contacted this year because I couldn't reach them
at their last known email address. If, during the year, you would like to add
someone to
my contact list, feel free to forward me their email address. Once their data is in my distribution list, it takes very little extra effort to keep
everybody
informed. I would be surprised if we didn't crack 300 entries again soon.
New players should note that first
time players have won in the past, and experienced players often do quite
poorly. This year's champion, Henry Callard has been competing
since at least 2002, but this is his first championship win. Last year's champion Paul Castino
competed for only the third time, and has yet to finish worse than 30th. He had
the highest score among previous champions at 27th, tied with 1999's Chris
Grande and none other than Wimpy. Next best was Michele
Russell (2008) in 81st place. The only other past champ to
break the top 100 was Fred Kenny (1993) in 94th. Only three other past
champs broke average in 2012, and they were Rich Worthington (2001) tied
with Scott Meyer (2005) in 124th place and one-time high score holder
Eddie Holman (1996) at 140th. All the rest of the past champions who
participated finished below average. This list includes Ryan
Gister (2006) in 152nd, and Jim
Ketchum (2002 and 2009) finishing a disappointing 170th and 221st.
Bringing up the rear were Paul Astorino (2007) in 189th, and Gerry
Sexton who hit the last page in 218th.
One thing that should be pretty clear, is that
past accomplishments are rarely a yardstick for current success. This
competition has a rich history, and I have every intention of preserving as much
of it as I can. My challenge was to devise a scoring system which rewards the most accurate picks, while recognizing the importance (but does not overvalue) early round upsets. Long time players know that perhaps the biggest key to the pool is not so much how big a number you put on a
team
that you thought would win and didn't (although that is a major factor), but
more importantly how small a number you put on a team you thought wouldn't win, and did! There weren't
a huge number of major upsets this year, however your entry probably had
little to no chance if you didn't pick Florida, Xavier, or N.C. State, to win at least one
game. Other than those key teams, your main chance to jump out of the gate with a strong score was to have decent numbers on
Ohio, Cincinnati, and Louisville, while avoiding placing too much
of your resources on Duke, Missouri, Michigan, Florida State or Georgetown.,
The first three of those
teams won at least two games, and there was a great opportunity to pick up some
significant points if you selected a few of them to over-achieve, but far more
importantly were careful not to give any of them a critically low number.
Picking any of the last four to exit relatively early also brought large
rewards. Normally, there are a few dark horses that are ridden into the winner's
circle. This year, with many of the favorites watching from home, the numbers
you placed on those teams you thought would exit early became a critical factor as to
whether you would contend or plummet.
H Wimpy had his best finish in over 20 years. He only needed a
Kansas win in the final to win one of his own shirts.
There were 12 overall winners, and they should be quite proud. It was, as
always, a tough year. If you finished above average, congratulations. It was a
difficult accomplishment. There are a lot of savvy players (and damn good
guessers) in this pool. Most have expressed that the fun is in the competition,
and I must agree. While the monetary prize will sweet, I believe it is the honor
of winning that Henry will remember most about the 2012 tournament. All top 3 places also
receive the famous 2012 Wimpy's March Madness Champion embroidered shirt,
(not available in stores!) 2012 is in the record books. I am
predicting a Wimpy Landslide in 2013 as well as the continued popularity of
Wimpy Squares. Thanks to all who participated, and Don't forget
to tell me if you change your email address!
Bucky Badger had the highest 1st to last round gain of +129 places!
Patty Tournai had the greatest 1st to last round drop of -210 places! (She
started in 4th place!)
Both Somo 3 and Devin Warnkin flew out of the gate in
1st place but dropped to 14th (and all the way to 117th)
by the tourney finish.
Fred Flener was in the money every round except the first and
the last. He finished one out of prizes.
Laverne Wiebe and
Adrienne Cohen were both having a great tournament. Both needed Kansas to
make the overall awards. Both got nothing.
Chris Lubesnik started off the first
round ahead of two other entries. By the second round, he had it all to himself -
never letting it go.