I’ve been called numerous things – Sean and Shane; Welsh, Walsh and whatever the radio guy says; Snoop; Funk; ‘Stache. Most of the other things are probably bad but occasionally good.
With that said, I made a great decision nearly a decade ago, marrying Marcie, who is now a teacher at Brookings High School.
I also made a bad decision, squaring off with the science nerd and space camp attendee in an NCAA Tournament bracket challenge.
We’re approaching our eight-year anniversary on June 25.
We began the showdown in 2012.
Marcie leads 6-2.
We had an epic 2012, picking every – yes, seriously, every – game that season. I spent countless hours setting up the daily schedule. The dozen-plus preseason tournaments were the most difficult part, especially waiting out the western ones, but we managed.
I’m telling you, we picked every game, all 5,770 of them. That’s my count, and I’m sticking with it.
Obviously, I have an Excel database – Pumper Pick’em, as it’s titled – to prove it, with hand-filled-out brackets scanned in.
Additionally, we picked preseason national and conference champions; game-by-game in the postseason; NIT, CBI, CTI. You name it, it was on the list.
Out of those 5,770 games, I was 74.32 percent for the year and she was 66.98 percent.
Did it matter? Well, yeah, those are great percentages and we posted our highest postseason scores ever to date.
Did it really matter? No!
Of course, Marcie won the first one, setting the tone for what was coming.
We both had Kentucky winning it in 2012 so it came down to who had the most Final Four teams – she had three with Ohio State and Kansas, while I only had two, also taking the Buckeyes.
The finishing touch was her having the Wildcats beating the Jayhawks in the final, which occurred, and I went with Kentucky dropping dud UNC.
Thanks, Tar Heels.
On a side note, we both had second-seeded Mizzou in the Final Four. If you know me, you’d understand.
But I should’ve known better given the Tigers’ postseason history. They fell to No. 15 Norfolk State in the first round.
Huge surprise, right?
I found that out after receiving a phone call from Marcie while getting off an airplane in Albuquerque, New Mexico, en route to covering Nate and Co. take on Baylor in the Dance (I also went to Purdue for the women’s game that year).
I’ve never been able to wear Mizzou gear on Final Four weekend.
Thank goodness No. 15 Lamar knocked off Duke later in the day to help keep Mizzou somewhat out of the national headlines. On the other side of that, the Blue Devils’ loss was a crushing one, as well.
Moving on.
Marcie led 1-0 after Year 1.
And then…
Marcie led 2-0 after Year 2. This one was bad; I got destroyed.
Marcie led 3-0 after Year 3. She edged me that year, though.
I won in 2015 to begin a back-and-forth trend, which left me trailing 4-2 entering last season.
And then it happened, again. Sort of.
The 2018 bracket was, just, nasty.
What she did to me is best described as an absolute beat down; however, it was worse.
I always blamed it all on luck because she picked the cool names, stating them proudly as her teams continued to pick up ‘W’s – Xavier. Villanova!, Gonzaga!!, etc.
However, it just so happened those teams have been loaded as of late – the Wildcats cut down the nets twice; the Bulldogs made it to a final; and the Musketeers do their thing.
Marcie grew up in Indiana, so watch out for those squads, as well – notably Butler, an institution in which we cheered for mightily until Brad Stevens left for the Celtics.
So yeah, she led 5-2 entering the current campaign.
I tried again, using my fine-point Zebra pen – the only thing that looks better on my bracket than hers is my handwriting – to fill out my bracket.
I got a little too ‘chalky.’ And possibly cocky.
I had Duke beating North Carolina in the final, hoping for the long-awaited NCAA Tournament showdown between the Tobacco Road foes (my other FF teams were Gonzaga and Virginia; yes, all No. 1 seeds).
Marcie had Gonzaga topping Virginia, with Michigan State (the difference maker) and Houston also in the Final Four.
I got off to a solid start and despite having only one Final Four team, was still in the lead.
It came down to Virginia versus Auburn in the Final Four.
Cavaliers win, she prevails.
Tigers come out victorious, I come out on top.
We know what happened there.
So, congratulations go to Marcie.
No, I’m not embarrassed.
And no, it’s not luck.
Bracketology is science and math, and she’s both. Math and science rule the world.
I’m proud.
But I do really need to win next year.
Side, side note
I went 3-of-4 in the First Four, which we count in our Bracket Challenge.
Later
I’m looking forward to talking to you all soon.
Future topics could range from cats to cribbage, mascot challenges to pizza.
Probably sports, too, and maybe golf, I guess.
#paw
Twitter @EDGECAT_ or contact me at sports@brookingsregister.com.
