Admin Picks

Being our 29th year and 2024 is a leap year, my nickname is Fabone’s Leap Year and the link will take you to my picks.

As usual, I did submit a second entry, The 5 Body Problem (the 5 players per team on the court), as after watching the 30 (!) episode Chinese version (on Amazon Prime Video and Peacock (though the subtitles seem off)) and listening to The 3 Body Problem audio book, I’m hooked. I’m hoping the Netflix version is good, even though they made it more international.

David’s pick should be by morning [Edit: Here is his pick The Mighty Mobelfakta!]. We unofficially have 170 entries!

Admin Picks

This is our 28th pool and considering February typically has just 28 days and that is my birth month, I am February Fabone (feel free to nitpick my picks).

My 2nd and last entry is in tribute to my Dad, Belucky2, and I even have Kansas winning it all since that is what he picked when he won the pool in 2008.

We set a record with 79 entries on Wednesday (was 76 in 2022) and ended the day with 156 entries, also a record (145 in 2017).

Currently, we have 160 entries so we are still 18 off the record of 178 set in 2017. Good luck to all!

Edit (8:32 AM PDT): And here is Dave’s bracket: The Mighty Mobelfakta (same nickname all 28 years!)

Admin Picks

It’s that time, time to reveal who the admins have spent their ten bucks on… This is probably the earliest I’ve done both picks (yes, it’s 2:30 am). Need to print these out to see who I picked.

Scott’s 1st entry: The Perfect Fabone – Our 27th year, 27 up, 27 down represents the perfect game by a pitcher. This bracket will be far from perfect though…

Scott’s 2nd entry: All R Picks R Dead – Just got done watching “All of Us are Dead” on Netflix, and although not to the level of the incredible Squid Game, still not your typical zombie show (in a good way) and watch the one-take cafeteria scene in the 2nd episode. Incredible stunt and camera work.

David’s entry: The Mighty Mobelfakta – the same nickname for the 27th straight year.

With two hours left, we are at 150 entries. Good luck to all!

Admin Picks!

Laugh or cry, we have submitted and paid for our picks. Below are my two entries. The first in reference to the 26.2 mile marathon as this is our 26th year. And my second is in awe of the incredible The Mandalorian Star Wars show gave us Baby Yoda… but where did he go to?

The Fabone Marathon

Where is Grogu

(Update 3/19/21 7:51 am PDT): David’s picks, his nickname of 26 years:

The Mighty Mobelfakta

Admin Picks!

Well, here we go. We have 143 entries thus far with less than 5 hours to go. Below are the admin picks, and yes, we pay our own $10 per entry. Note, the links will eventually have the time/date stamp removed when I have time but I was working until 1 am today. BTW, this link also will allow you to view your own bracket if you forgot who you picked.

David F: The Mighty Mobelfakta (http://www.hwci.com/ncaa/2019/picks.asp?entries=The+Mighty+Mobelfakta+-+3-21-2019+2-23)

Scott T (1st): Silver Fabone (http://www.hwci.com/ncaa/2019/picks.asp?entries=Silver+Fabone+-+3-21-2019+5-45)

Scott T (2nd): Gekijou no Walkure (http://www.hwci.com/ncaa/2019/picks.asp?entries=Gekijou+no+Walkure+-+3-21-2019+6-23)

First Four Tipoff

It’s 3:40 pm and the first First Four match has tipped off, more than 42 hours after the earliest we have ever got the web entry up (9 pm Sunday).  At this time, we have 54 entries, which is 17 more than our previous best, 37 in 2014.  In our record-setting year of 2016 (161 entries), we had just 27 so we’ve doubled that.   The graph is time-based so, for example, you can see most people are sleeping between hours 25 and 33 (10 pm – 6 am).  The biggest increase in entries will be tomorrow from 9 am until 3 am Thursday (Hours 60 to 78) so that will be a better indication if we will top the 161 entries we had in 2016.

Speaking of topping the record number of entries, if we do that, I’ll donate another $25 to the IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference, this year’s HWCI NCAA First Four for Charity choice (charity meaning any non-profit).  We did get 16 entries so that’s at least $32 that will go to the conference.  I already got a good lead from Neil O (Dagger) for next year’s charity of choice so I can’t wait.

Also, if you want to see your bracket, you can click on “Your Picks” in the top menu.  These are all unofficial.

Full disclosure, my dear Watson

n2014_SherlocksIn the nickname links are  my two entries in the pool, a hard earned $20 going to someone else.  In celebration of the 20th year, The Fabone XX is poised to give false hope early before crashing down hard.  And Elim the Impossible, with inspiration from Sherlock Holmes (with the great series Sherlock as well as Elementary), figures to either fight for the top or fight for the bottom.  There is no middle.  BTW, you can view your own bracket as well.

Edit:  Dave’s pick, The Mighty Mobelfakta,  just came in!  We now have 121 entries so hopefully we can get at least 14 in the morning to set a new record.

Esteemed Founder’s Picks

David F. (The Mighty Mobelfakta) has submitted his bracket.  We will post both his and my bracket (when I get a chance to fill it out) before 9 am tomorrow so you can laugh at us (and also for verification purposes).  You can view his bracket here(Hint: Once viewing David’s, you can then view your bracket in case you lost your printout).

Buckeye Mike Perfect – Not a Good Sign

Buckeye Mike became just the 3rd person to go 16-0 on the first day.  The last two to do it, Bloomers123 and Blueberry and in 2003, finished the pool in 27th and 62nd (of 63), respectively.  But I’d rather be 16-0 than 10-6 as 4 are right now.  Standings have been posted (click on Standings button on menu) and the Scott Update will come very late tonight.  Too much to process.

Halfway Done, Just Like Memphis

I will say I am impressed at the quality of video on March Madness on Demand. I bet if I had FIOS it’d be even smoother. And they didn’t black out the game being played on local TV like they usually do. I am not impressed with Memphis and hopefully this’ll be the wake-up call for them or it’ll be a short tournament for them. Baby Ouija went 0-3 to start but finished the first half of the day 5-0. There were 30 @ 3-0, 21 @ 7-0, and now 19 @ 8-0 (16 pts). There are 4 tied for last at 4-4 (8 pts).

You can now view everyone’s picks, the individual choice listing, and team choice distribution.  Note all of this is unofficial.  After the weekend, everything is official and we can break down the prize distribution.

And to find out who your competitors are, the Who’s Who page is up.