Sweet Sixteen but Questions Swirl
On to the Elite Eight, but doubts about the couple from the cliffs of Edgewater swirl about. The possibility of collusion fills the fowl air surrounding the Sweet Sixteen. Eileen Sweeney who has clearly been shown to be emotionally driven when bracket picking somehow has maintained the pool lead despite such a weak basketball foundation. And then there is her other half, Greg Orosz, long known for his prowess for applying technological computer tools and hacking skills to answering the questions of the universe, who has somehow has risen from the quagmire of the lower realm of the pool. How could this couple better known for their baseball passion select brackets that has taken them to the top of Ardoon Madness. Again, all signs point to COLLUSION with insiders. They have continually obstructed the honest play and integrity of the American way and rights for a truly legitimate March madness tournament. Why did they insist in directly handing in their pools? Why meet secretly with the organizers of Ardoon Madness as they slid their tainted brackets across the table filled with innuendo? Why cross that chasm of the Cuyahgoa River valley when a simple email attachment would have suffice? Why return to the eastside, the side of town that they so adamantly fled just to file paper brackets? Paper brackets? Just this past Saturday Eileen was seen flashing her fancy phone about with her electronic bracket for all to see. Why submit paper brackets? COLLUSION is the only answer. Their attempt to influence the out come of this tournament? Calls for this devious couple to be investigated grow. The integrity of Ardoon Madness is being eroded by this cloud of deceit.
Two Roy Pekocs reported on the last sent email with results from the first two rounds, a clerical error or a Trojan horse? We know now that one Roy is really Jean and that the other and real Roy may not have as a strong grasp of basketball as he would like. Jean Pekoc has been revealed and has solidly grabbed third position in the pool. The question now is whether Jean has been the staying power as we enter into the Elite Eight? We know she has had months of down time to study the field, to weigh the match-ups, to handicap the odds. Is this vast storage of information sufficient to overcome the smell of collusion from above? We can only hope that knowledge honestly gathered can strike a decisive blow against obstructionist on the lake.
What about Quiet Norah? She has slipped but is she out? Don’t count on it. She can be tenacious when roused. Will the Elite Eight prove to be her redemption?
Then there is the ordinary, the banal, the terrene, the mundane — Charlie Sweeney, John Sweeney and Catherine Sweeney. Their brackets have shown no originality, no insight, no virtue of prognostication. They sit mired in the middle with no hope of rising and no risk of sinking. They are the “middle class” of this tournament. No threat and no challenge.
Layla and Francine Lasley, these are the beauties of the the brackets. But, atlas, they have placed their hopes on cute mascots, team colors and clouded biases. They can only learn from their errors and come back stronger next time.
And as we turn to the lower levels who do we find? Jim Sweeney, Pekoc’s Two and the duo of Lola & Liam. We know of Liam’s unfortunate pairing with his grandmother. We can admire the loyalty and hope that he shakes the dead weight in the future. The Pekoc’s Two, likely just a ruse to distract from the Pekoc matriarch who threatens the bracket leaders. And poor Jim, so proud in the opening days of the tournament. Oh how the mighty have fallen. The hubris, the arrogance, the hauteur. Perhaps there will be salvation in the days to come of inevitable defeat.
Enjoy the next round.
John
End of Sweet Sixteen / Third Round Results
| Bracket | Points | % of Games Picked | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eileen Sweeney | 304 | 73.1% |
| 2 | Greg Orosz | 281 | 71.2% |
| 3 | Jean Pekoc | 266 | 65.4% |
| 4 | Norah Sweeney | 264 | 65.4% |
| 5 | Charlie Sweeney | 262 | 69.2% |
| 6 | John Sweeney | 254 | 65.4% |
| 7 | Catherine Sweeney | 251 | 63.5% |
| 8 | Layla | 227 | 67.3% |
| 9 | Francine Lasley | 225 | 57.7% |
| 10 | Jim Sweeney | 220 | 59.6% |
| 11 | Roy Pekoc | 209 | 51.9% |
| 12 | Sam Pekoc | 199 | 51.9% |
| 13 | Lola & Liam | 189 | 48.1% |