The Jock Strap
with Brian Bruce
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
"Beat the Bruce" and the NCAA Tournament
Well, the NCAA Tournament wrapped up on Monday night in San Antonio with the Kansas Jayhawks knocking off the Memphis Tigers, 75-68 in overtime, for the national championship. The Jayhawks brought the title back home to Lawrence for the first time since 1988, when Danny Manning and the Miracles defeated Oklahoma 83-79 in the title game at Kemper Arena in Kansas City.
The drama-filled championship game finished off yet another outstanding NCAA Tournament, which does nothing but continue to grow in importance and popularity.
This year at Ottumwa Radio, we tried something new with our "Beat the Bruce" bracket challenge. We were hopeful that plenty of individuals would sign up for the online bracket challenge, and truly thought it could be an exciting and enjoyable feature on our website.
We were not disappointed. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised with the level of genuine excitement that many people had for the "Beat the Bruce" challenge, from friends of mine around the country, people we're familiar with around southeast Iowa, and faithful listeners that we haven't yet met personally. It was awesome!
Now, I must say, "The Bruce's" early round picks didn't go as planned, and believe me, I heard plenty of heat about the exact number of people that were "beating the Bruce" when I sat in 160th place after the first weekend of The Big Dance. But, I am proud to say that I correctly picked 3 of the 4 Final Four teams (would have had all four if Xavier hadn't laid an egg in the Elite 8 versus UCLA), picked the championship game teams, and picked my beloved Jayhawks to win it all. In the end, I finished 16th, and only 15 people "Beat the Bruce." Not bad, my friends, not bad.
But, any accomplishments I had pale in comparison to what I will refer to as "The Top Three." Finishing first was an Ottumwa grade-schooler, Tristan Boyer. T-dubs topped the list of 224 bracketologists and defeated the second place finisher by 13 points. T-dubs "smack" talk says nothing other than "Hey....I'm just a kid." Yes, it may be true that he will only be in 7th grade next school year, but T-dubs came up with one heck of a memorable performance in our bracket challenge! Congratulations buddy!
Finishing second was none other than local high school student and sports genius Emery Songer. Emery entered the exact same bracket in the Ottumwa High School pool and on the Fox Sports website. His OHS bracket earned him money in the end, and at one point, his Fox Sports bracket was 15th-best in the entire state of Iowa. The thing that has to be pointed out about Emery's bracket is the fact that he correctly picked Davidson to advance to the Elite Eight and lose to Kansas. UNBELIEVABLE! I mean, let's be real. I knew Davidson was an excellent team and thus I picked them to defeat Gonzaga in the first round, and then lose to Georgetown in the second round. Not Emery. The local sports whiz accurately predicted the Wildcats' historic run to the Elite Eight. Incredible. Nicely done, my friend, nicely done. Second place with over 600 accumulated points. Excellent.
And rounding out "The Top Three" was one of "The Bruce's" best friends, Kristine Kelly, who resides in the Kansas City metro area. To all of those macho sports dudes out there who think that there isn't a female alive than can possibly know as much as you do about sports: Kristine proves you wrong. First off, just look at her username on "Beat the Bruce": Sherron Collins is my basketball boyfriend. Now, you have to know a ton about sports to name your bracket after the Kansas Jayhawks backup point guard. You also have to know a lot about basketball to finish third out of 224 contestants. Don't talk to me about luck. Kristine has the skills to pay the bills (and now she has a Motorola Blue Tooth hands-free cell phone speaker as well)! Ms. Kelly's triumphant result in "Beat the Bruce" capped off an incredible March Madness season for the KU graduate and lifelong Kansas basketball fan, as she was in Lawrence to witness her 'Hawks defeat UNC and Memphis to earn the national title for the first time since 1988, as well as entering her same "Beat the Bruce" bracket at work in K.C. and taking home money there as well. "Sherron Collins is my basketball boyfriend" came up big, just like the real-life Sherron "Big Hustle" Collins and his Jayhawk brethren did in San Antonio. Awesome job Kristine!
That's it for now, friends. Thanks for all of the interest in and excitement for "Beat the Bruce," and I truly hope you enjoyed the 2008 edition of The Big Dance as much as I did.
I'll check in with you again soon.
OUT.
"The Bruce"
The drama-filled championship game finished off yet another outstanding NCAA Tournament, which does nothing but continue to grow in importance and popularity.
This year at Ottumwa Radio, we tried something new with our "Beat the Bruce" bracket challenge. We were hopeful that plenty of individuals would sign up for the online bracket challenge, and truly thought it could be an exciting and enjoyable feature on our website.
We were not disappointed. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised with the level of genuine excitement that many people had for the "Beat the Bruce" challenge, from friends of mine around the country, people we're familiar with around southeast Iowa, and faithful listeners that we haven't yet met personally. It was awesome!
Now, I must say, "The Bruce's" early round picks didn't go as planned, and believe me, I heard plenty of heat about the exact number of people that were "beating the Bruce" when I sat in 160th place after the first weekend of The Big Dance. But, I am proud to say that I correctly picked 3 of the 4 Final Four teams (would have had all four if Xavier hadn't laid an egg in the Elite 8 versus UCLA), picked the championship game teams, and picked my beloved Jayhawks to win it all. In the end, I finished 16th, and only 15 people "Beat the Bruce." Not bad, my friends, not bad.
But, any accomplishments I had pale in comparison to what I will refer to as "The Top Three." Finishing first was an Ottumwa grade-schooler, Tristan Boyer. T-dubs topped the list of 224 bracketologists and defeated the second place finisher by 13 points. T-dubs "smack" talk says nothing other than "Hey....I'm just a kid." Yes, it may be true that he will only be in 7th grade next school year, but T-dubs came up with one heck of a memorable performance in our bracket challenge! Congratulations buddy!
Finishing second was none other than local high school student and sports genius Emery Songer. Emery entered the exact same bracket in the Ottumwa High School pool and on the Fox Sports website. His OHS bracket earned him money in the end, and at one point, his Fox Sports bracket was 15th-best in the entire state of Iowa. The thing that has to be pointed out about Emery's bracket is the fact that he correctly picked Davidson to advance to the Elite Eight and lose to Kansas. UNBELIEVABLE! I mean, let's be real. I knew Davidson was an excellent team and thus I picked them to defeat Gonzaga in the first round, and then lose to Georgetown in the second round. Not Emery. The local sports whiz accurately predicted the Wildcats' historic run to the Elite Eight. Incredible. Nicely done, my friend, nicely done. Second place with over 600 accumulated points. Excellent.
And rounding out "The Top Three" was one of "The Bruce's" best friends, Kristine Kelly, who resides in the Kansas City metro area. To all of those macho sports dudes out there who think that there isn't a female alive than can possibly know as much as you do about sports: Kristine proves you wrong. First off, just look at her username on "Beat the Bruce": Sherron Collins is my basketball boyfriend. Now, you have to know a ton about sports to name your bracket after the Kansas Jayhawks backup point guard. You also have to know a lot about basketball to finish third out of 224 contestants. Don't talk to me about luck. Kristine has the skills to pay the bills (and now she has a Motorola Blue Tooth hands-free cell phone speaker as well)! Ms. Kelly's triumphant result in "Beat the Bruce" capped off an incredible March Madness season for the KU graduate and lifelong Kansas basketball fan, as she was in Lawrence to witness her 'Hawks defeat UNC and Memphis to earn the national title for the first time since 1988, as well as entering her same "Beat the Bruce" bracket at work in K.C. and taking home money there as well. "Sherron Collins is my basketball boyfriend" came up big, just like the real-life Sherron "Big Hustle" Collins and his Jayhawk brethren did in San Antonio. Awesome job Kristine!
That's it for now, friends. Thanks for all of the interest in and excitement for "Beat the Bruce," and I truly hope you enjoyed the 2008 edition of The Big Dance as much as I did.
I'll check in with you again soon.
OUT.
"The Bruce"
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