Sunday Bracket Update

Grant's path to Victory: SDSU wins 2 more games and Texas doesn't win any or SDSU wins it all. 

Harrison's path to Victory: Texas must lose tomorrow. SDSU must not win 2 more games. 

Brit's path to Victory: Texas must win tomorrow. SDSU must not win it all. 

New Merch

I'm in Skyy Moore's Video

So do you remember a little over a month ago when I took this picture of Patrick Mahomes and JuJu Smith-Schuster?

Well that moment was captured in Skyy Moore's behind the scenes video at 18:10.

In fact, you can see me in his video. I'm the guy in red.

chess history

Just for posterity, I got into a phase of playing human opponents on Chess.com from April–June 2022. 

I played 71 games, going 42-24 with 5 draws. 

Counterintuitively, I was 18-16 with white, but 24-8 with the black pieces. Apparently, I played better when responding to attacks than forming my own.

My best win was against a 878. My best ever rating was a 879 and my current rating of 865 puts me in the 70th percentile among all chess.com players. My goal was to say I was better than 2 out of 3 players, and I achieved that. 

Bracket Contest Breakdown

My bracket is currently in 1st out of 19, 94th percentile in the country, with 430 points. 

In the Elite 8, I can get four teams right: Alabama, Houston, Texas, Gonzaga.

Final 4, I have three alive: Alabama, Houston, Gonzaga. 

And the title game of Houston vs Alabama is still alive. 

So good position, but still only four teams alive.

Niraj trails me by 40 points, but he has a chance to get an extra 40 points because in addition to the exact bracket I have, he also has UConn advancing to the Elite 8. If UConn beats Arkansas, Niraj and I will end up with the same score.

Despite having tiebreakers, ESPN does not calculate the tiebreaker. Instead saying that it total score relative to the actual total score. My tiebreaker total was 150. Niraj put 146. If the national championship scores 148 points, I guess we're still tied. 

But that's just Niraj. 

Harrison has 5 teams alive: SDSU, Houston, Texas, Arkansas, Gonzaga. He also has Gonzaga winning it all. So he has a path to victory.

Brit has the same 5 teams alive as Niraj but with Texas winning it all. So she has a path to victory. 

Adam's wife KC has Xavier beating Texas but has no teams in the championship alive. Her path is very slim and relies on Xavier and chaos. Seems almost impossible. 

Savan is the highest score that has Alabama winning it all. So he has a path.

Mark can pass Savan as Mark has Kansas State in the Final Four. Savan has Gonzaga so Mark needs Kansas State to keep winning, root against Gonzaga, and wants Alabama to win it all. But it's possible. 

Eve has some unique teams alive, so it seems like she also has a path. Her Elite 8 teams alive are Alabama, Miami, Xavier and Tennessee. With Tennessee in the Championship game. So it's possible. 

Adam has Xavier and UConn alive, along with Alabama, Houston, Gonzaga and Houston winning it all. So if everything fell his way, probably has a path.

Jonah could possibly tie or pass Brit with Tennessee and UCLA wins and then be in prime position if Texas wins it all. So still alive I think.

Grant despite intentionally making a bunch of bozo picks, has San Diego State beating Gonzaga in the championship. Still alive. 

Matt despite being at the bottom, has UCLA winning it all with Xavier also in the Final Four. Still a chance.

Cora, Leela, Missy, Jay, Bridget, Kirat, and Sid cannot pass people ahead of them. 

The 11 people with a path to victory are in bold.

March Madness Calcutta Thoughts

1st Round

I wanted Houston. Would have taken the 2 spot and Alabama but both were taken. So I went for slot 4. Didn’t want Purdue or Kansas. Could have moved down to 6, but I was thinking about the 3rd round. Calculated that my 2nd pick would be good enough at 9 and didn’t want to drop below 16 for my 3rd pick.

2nd Round 

I had eye on Marquette or Gonzaga (but didn’t want Gonzaga after I got UCLA) so I was happy Savan took Gonzaga and not Arizona.

3rd Round 

I was debating between Tennessee and 8 seeds, but Burnsy took Tennessee. Was happy to get the 8 seeds. If I didn’t take the 8, I would have taken Creighton.

4th Round

I thought I would end up with 10 seeds, because I didn’t think Kentucky would be on the board. Once I took Kentucky, I offered Burnsy my last two picks for his 22nd pick so I could take the 10 seeds but he declined. But if he wanted Texas A&M, I think he should have taken it. They would have been there at 28. I think best for Burnsy would have been to take the 10 seeds, second best would have been to trade down, and distant last is take Texas A&M at 22. 

5th Round

Because he didn't take the trade, I got the 11 seeds at 28. I was happy with that. 

6th Round

Had a choice between MSU and 13 seeds for the last pick. Thought even if MSU wins one game, it's more fun to have the 13 seeds and hope they win one.

FIFA does something good

Loyal readers will remember this 2018 post about the 2026 World Cup in which I pointed out the flaws of the proposed 3-team groups.

Luckily, FIFA reads Hoagie Central and they have decided to adopt my plan of the 4-team groups. 

Shreveport Work Trip

Went down to Shreveport Bossier for a work trip.

Jake Williams was playing music and taking our requests.

Got to go axe throwing and do a rage room, both for the first time.

Had some great food. My favorite was this gumbo from Orlandeaux's. And the au gratin potatoes from Silver Star Smokehouse were the best I've ever had.