Bracket Blogs got a bit crazy this week. The Unseen Blogger noticed he was in a competition after a few weeks and rallied his troops to get him to the final round with the most votes any single blog got in a round since I started this behemoth. Recognizing the battle on his hands, B13 pulled out all the stops with a week of inimitable appeals to geeks, gay coyboys and even the mentally challenged. Even with gaming buddies, coworkers, and family chiming in, would it be enough to defeat the Unseen Army? And in all the chaos, did anyone realize I'd never actually mentioned a prize for winning this thing?
I was kind of tempted to ignore this beast entirely this week, maybe instead write reviews of recent movies I'd watched like The Darjeeling Limited,Ratatouille, or Alpha Dog. “Bracket Blogs?” I'd respond when people questioned the absence of results, “What the heck are Bracket Blogs?” It would be absolutely evil and I'd definitely have a riot on my hands. So, I guess I'd better tally the votes, and triple check as some people tried to vote more than once:
Well, even though I never announced a prize, I typically give away a Mysterious Master Prize™ in these situations. As it happens, one of those elusive fragments remains, but I don't think it will be of much value to B13, who along with the likes of Orko and The Sorceress, already knows my secret identity. So, for the first time in the history of the Nexus, the Mysterious Master Prize™ is going to be a consolation prize. Unseen, check your inbox soon for Sagittaron.jpg. You've put in a great effort and deserve something for making it this far. In a way, we're all winners. In another, more accurate way, B13 is a winner who will have a place of honor in my sidebar for the entire month of May. I figure the guy could use more traffic.
This Bracket experiment was a lot of fun, and I hope everyone who participated enjoyed themselves as much as I did! I might revisit this structure in the future, though I don't know how popular it would be if I pit things other than blogs against each other. Would 16 favorite desserts or 16 favorite comic book characters get as much of a response? 16 favorite sexual positions would probably get me a lot of traffic, though I'm not so sure those are hits I'd be looking for. I could be wrong. If anyone has suggestions for future bracket ideas, I'd love to hear them. Keep up the great blogging everyone, and hopefully some of the new bloggers I discovered along the way will still stop by. We'll close with a gallery of all the images B13 used in his campaign:
This is it! The final showdown in Bracket Blogs starts now! This may have been the toughest decision yet for voters, especially with six competitors to choose from for only two spots! I was also seriously bummed in the past week to see Bracket Blog semifinalist and long time blog buddy Darrell bid farewell to the blogosphere. He certainly has good reason to take a break, and I hope we'll see him again someday. Certainly one of my favorite reads, he will be missed. Thank you Darrell for great posts, comments, and support in all the crazy memes I came up with(such as this one). May the future bring you luck and better fortune.
I was afraid this might happen. It seems last week’s Bracket Blogs resulted in a few ties. There’s no “sudden death” in blogging, so in the event of a tie I have to advance both competitors to the next tier.
So, just to clarify, we’re now looking at two three-way matchups, which I’ll blame Rey for since he was the last to vote. Hopefully, six will enter but only two will leave, but nothing is predictable in the wacky world of Bracket Blogs!
Remember, you can only choose two and each of the remaining contenders has a 1-in-3 shot at making it to the final showdown next week. I have absolutely no idea what’s going to happen next...better start campaigning and encouraging your readers to vote!
When I debuted Bracket Blogs last week, it was definitely something of an experiment. In hindsight, some of the matchups made sense, while others were clearly random as some people pointed out to me. Nevertheless, the response was greater than expected, and almost made me understand the appeal of sports.
First, we'll check the scores and see who makes it to the second round, then we'll check who we have paired up for next week.
Wow, some of those were close! I got nervous a few times, as I realized I have absolutely no tie-breaking mechanism in place. I guess I would have had both blogs moving to the next round in the event of a tie, giving each a 1 in 3(or 4) chance of getting a vote. Anyway, here's what the chart looks like for next week:
And you thought THIS round was tough. Those who didn't make it through worry not; you're all winners in my book or you wouldn't be in the blogroll. Good luck to the Final Eight! Start casting your votes; you have one week.
It's been a while since I was active in the college basketball scene, well over a decade, and since I don't follow sports regularly ”March Madness” can slip right by me.
Of course, there have been plenty of reminders of brackets lately. KRock ran a “Bracket Brawl” in which listeners could vote on favorite bands. They started with 64, which came down to 16, then 8, then 4, then finally two of my favorites, Metallica and Pearl Jam. Metallica won by a narrow margin, 1.8%, and overall I was happy with the results.
How I Met Your Mother put their spin on the bracket system this week as well, as the gang tries to narrow down which of the many girls Barney loved and left is now going around Manhattan warning others of his lecherous ways. They manage to narrow the list down to four, and while they never quite find the mystery girl, at least not in this episode, there is a pretty awesome payoff at the end with an inevitable reference. Also, in lying to one of the girls and telling her he was Ted, Barney's actions led her to create a website bashing “Ted”. That show is great with viral marketing.
I don't know if this is going to work, but I figured if my radio and television were doing it, I had to try. In a grueling process involving darts and highly trained monkeys, I managed to go through my blogroll and whittle down a list of 16 contenders. I considered 32, but the monkeys pointed out that many of the ones I chose, while favorites, hadn't updated in months if not longer. Through a highly scientific process too complex to explain, we then figured out appropriate pairs for the first round:
(Click the Picture Above for a Larger Set of brackets)
Leave a comment saying who you're voting for in each of the 8 match-ups. In one week, I'll update the chart accordingly and you'll have 4 showdowns to decide on. This will continue each week until only one blog remains to claim bragging rights, honor, and perhaps a prize.
You can vote for yourself and you can encourage your readers to stop by and vote for you as well. If you were left off the list and feel you should have been included, or if you think someone else in my blogroll should be on there, you can substitute a vote in any of the 8 spots. There's no guarantee others will add to your vote, but the option is there.
Only you can decide who goes on to the next round. Voting begins....NOW!
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MCF is a mild-mannered
artist from the suburbs.
His knowledge of obscure
comic book characters
is more powerful than Gladiator
of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard on
an ego-trip. Able to leap topics
in a single sentence faster than
a speeder-bike on the moon of
Endor, MCF has never written
about himself in the third person
and now dreads the day he
utters aloud the fateful phrase,
"MCF is gettin' upset!"
