Mascot Bracket claims top spot

Every year on Selection Sunday, I fill out a bracket based on my broad knowledge of college basketball.  I carefully select a few underdogs I feel like have a good change at making a run.  I pick one or two favorites that I think are ripe for an early exit.  I read some of the experts, and fill out my bracket in pencil.  I shape it carefully, with all of my skill and knowledge.

Then I fill out “The Mascot Bracket,” based solely on which mascot (or more accurately, which nickname) would win in a fight.  I have a pretty strict set of rules, and sometimes have to make some tough decisions.  This year I got some heat for picking a panther over a grizzlie, and admit I probably had that one wrong (grizzlies are flippin’ huge!).  This year the mascot bracket had the Vanderbilt Commodores winning it all.  It also had the Oklahoma State Cowboys advancing to the final four.  Both the Commodores and Cowboys lost in the first round.  It didn’t look good.

But now the dust has settled, and it turns out that the Mascot Bracket nailed the other side of the final four: Duke over West Virginia, and with only the national championship to be played, the Mascot Bracket has emerged victorious.

In a group of 30 participants in my yahoo public group, the Mascot Bracket finished first!  Ahead of Joe Lunardi, ahead of picking only the favorites, ahead of my own picks, ahead of Barack Obama, ahead of my three-year-old daughter, and ahead of all the other amatuer experts that filled out brackets in my group.

Final score:
1. Mascots 72 (84th percentile before the championship game)
2. Chalk 62
3. Obama 59
4. My daughter 58
5. Me and Joe Lunardi 53