Mascot Madness: Which Mascot Would Win in a Fight?

March 17, 2016 | Drew Troller

Yes, I’m back at it again. The great thing about March Madness is that the teams are different every year, so the insane question of which mascot would win in a fight can be asked again and again, with new anthropomorphic characters to hypothetically duke it out. Read More

Objective Bracketology: Be the Only One in Your Pool to Use These Methods

March 17, 2016 | Drew Troller

With March Madness kicking off this week, everyone is watching their brackets closely to see which teams will rise to the top of the NCAA tournament. From detailed player analysis to superstitious patterns, people spend a lot of time and energy coming up with the best angle for filling out a bracket so that they can win their March Madness pool

And then some other jerk who arbitrarily picked their teams wins.

So if you can’t beat them, join them, right? I’ve covered this in the past with brackets based on things like which team’s mascot would win in a fight, and a year later, which team’s school boasts the most famous alumni.  Those brackets did not do well. There’s no reason to think that this year’s Mascot Madness will do any better. Maybe that’s because I used totally subjective judgments to determine who should win each match-up. Maybe what my bracketology needs is a conceit based on data with much more empirical value, but with the same basketball wisdom.

In other words, I came up with brackets that are objective, but have NOTHING to do with how well the teams play basketball.

I am for real entering these brackets in some public pools, just so I can see which strategy is most practical, and how many actual college basketball fans I can beat. If you really don’t know who to pick in your pool, give one of these brackets a shot. Give March a bit more Madness.

---

Read More

Screw It, I’m Becoming a College Basketball Fan

March 9, 2015 | Patrick Murray

Picking a team to root for has never been a chore for me.  If a team or sport didn’t reach out and grab me, I’ve never bothered to make … Read More

Welcome to the InterNEAT! Volume 30

March 25, 2014 | Alex Cadice

Happy Tuesday everyone! It’s the big 3-0 here at the InterNEAT! What’s the appropriate gift for a 30th anniversary? Pearls! Well … enjoy these online pearls of wisdom and fun!

… Read More