In The Blogs

The Presidential Bracket

| Wed Mar. 18, 2009 9:36 AM PDT

Jeez. Not much love for the Pac Ten from our hoops loving president. A first round win for Washington is all he's got for us in his NCAA bracket. Somebody needs to take this up with him when he shows up here in Orange County later today.

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Kevin Drum is a political blogger for Mother Jones. For more of his stories, click here.

Comments

Chalk

Submitted by saralonde on Wed Mar. 18, 2009 9:56 AM PDT.

Three #1's and a #2 in the Final Four, too. I'd think our president would be more inclined toward the underdog.

The Pac-10 is overrepresented

Submitted by Linkmeister (not verified) on Wed Mar. 18, 2009 10:15 AM PDT.

at least by one. No way my alma mater Arizona should have gotten in. Arizona was 2-9 on the road and lost five of their last six games. Meanwhile, St. Mary's was left out despite 26 wins and a 13-5 road record.

He's a whore for UNC because

Submitted by Vincent (not verified) on Wed Mar. 18, 2009 10:19 AM PDT.

He's a whore for UNC because he wants to stay Michael Jordan's friend (Jordan, of course, is a god in Chicago). But why didn't he do the women's bracket as well? Can anyone beat the evil empire of Storrs? (I'm hoping the Terps can.)

Talk to Michelle's brother

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Mar. 18, 2009 10:20 AM PDT.

Well, his brother-in-law is coach of a Pac10 team (Oregon State) so you may want him to intercede here.

he's already 0-1

Submitted by dday (not verified) on Wed Mar. 18, 2009 10:22 AM PDT.

Picked Alabama State instead of Morehead State in the play-in game. Clearly Morehead's inside-outside game was going to carry that one. Bad decisions, wrong for America. When will this nightmare end?

Sporting entertainment

Submitted by daCascadian (not verified) on Wed Mar. 18, 2009 10:55 AM PDT.

Kevin Drum >"...Not much love for the Pac Ten..." The Pac Ten doesn't have enough good PR people or gangsters supporting it so what do you expect, balance ? If you want a reasonable balance then go back to the regional setup where a team must actually exist in the region to play in that specific regional tourney. Today's method is as bogus as the BCS nonsense in football. On the other hand if you just want more "representation" then hire better PR people and smarter gangsters. "...it's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine..." - REM

Serious Pac-10 dissing

Submitted by santamonicamr (not verified) on Wed Mar. 18, 2009 11:24 AM PDT.

Apart from two #9 seeds beating #8 seeds (Tenn vs OK and Butler vs LSU), the *only* upsets in the first rounds are lower ranked seeds beating Pac-10 teams: #10 Maryland beating #7 Cal, #11 VCU beating #6 UCLA and #11 Temple beating #6 ASU. He may be right, but if he's wrong, he'll have some serious making up to do to protect those blue states in 2012.

no 5-12's? thats not a

Submitted by Dan Lee (not verified) on Wed Mar. 18, 2009 12:06 PM PDT.

no 5-12's? thats not a bracket I can believe in. no love for the big 12 either

well he is from the Big (11) Ten

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Mar. 18, 2009 12:18 PM PDT.

Also, where did the "healthcare this year?" post go? i actually had something to add. e1

The Big Dance

Submitted by MarkH on Wed Mar. 18, 2009 1:19 PM PDT.

I watched the SouthEastConference final and the Big10/11 final and none of them looked great. Only Purdue (who won) looked decent. Maybe it's just a bad year for college ball. Of all years this is the one where a real Cinderella might get to the final 4 or win it all.

Three #1's and a #2 in the

Submitted by John (not verified) on Wed Mar. 18, 2009 5:04 PM PDT.

Three #1's and a #2 in the Final Four, too. I'd think our president would be more inclined toward the underdog. I'm not surprised at all (Although, admittedly, he picked the same Final Four as me, so perhaps I'm biased). Obama is temperamentally conservative. That means picking mostly number 1 seeds in the final four - obviously it's unlikely to actually turn out that way, but it's very hard to predict which one seeds are going to do badly. The smart money it to mostly pick favorites.

it's Craig Robinson's fault

Submitted by J. Frank Parnell (not verified) on Wed Mar. 18, 2009 7:31 PM PDT.

It's OSU coach Craig Robinson's fault. When asked to give a scouting report on his brother in law, he started out (paraphrased): "a middle age player with declining athleticism."

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