Tag Archives: Star Wars

Issue # 12.5.1 “High Scoring Affair”

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(Note: This is recap for Saturday’s games)

Watch the best animated show on TV, Star Wars Rebels!
Saturday, April 2, 2016 [Published 4/4]

VILLANOVA TURNS ON SWITCH, UNC BREAKS ZONE
For the first time since the end of the 1st round, Buccos 1 back on top

CERRITOS, CA (smt)- #2S-Villanova had a 21-4 run in the first half but #2W-Oklahoma chipped away and cut it to 9 with 16:22 left.  Cut to the Wildcats going crazy with a 33-4 run in just over 9 minutes to demolish Buddy Hield and the Sooners, 95-51, in the biggest Final Four blowout ever.  ‘Nova shot 71.4% and missed just five shots in the explosive second half.  #1E-UNC missed their first 12 three-point shots but it didn’t matter as the Tar Heels scored 50 in the paint in holding off #10MW-Syracuse, 83-66.  The Orange 2/3 zone couldn’t prevent UNC from scoring at will within the arc shooting 64.6% from 2-point range.

Resistance is futile as The Resistance watches from the sidelines as three pass him putting him in a tie for 4th (122 pts).  Buccos 1, who led after Round 1, leads again with 128 pts with JJ in second with 126.  It will be one of these two who will win our 22nd pool, and each would pick up their first ever money prize as well.  Ten can still finish in the top 6.  Those two and Honey Badger have a 100% chance at money, although the latter would have to win a tiebreaker for 6th if Villanova wins the title.  JJ, Honey Badger, and The Hip-Hopopotamus (10th-T, 119) got both teams correct while 108 missed both.

For the Bonus, if Villanova wins the championship, Ito (129th-T, 84) wins Continue reading »

Issue # 2.0.2 “Be a Force For Change!”

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Wednesday, March 16, 2016

TWO BLOWOUTS TO START, HOW WILL IT END?
18 hours to go — Deadline is 9 am PDT tomorrow

EL SEGUNDO, CA (smt)- I hope the first two games of the tournament are no indication of what’s to come as #16Ea-FGCU trounced #16Eb-Fairleigh Dickinson by 30 and #11Sb-Wichita St knocked off #11Sa-Vandy by 20.  Hope for some close matches and some good upsets.  It’s amazing there are multiple ways to watch the game but in a car, it’s not on the radio.  Thank goodness for TuneIn radio so was able to hear the blowouts on my long drive home.

So there was apparently a leak of the bracket thirty or so minutes into a 2-hour long debacle of a Selection Show.  It’s one of many things I’ve been oblivious of the past several months (there was a terrorist attack nearby in San Bernardino?   Star Wars TV spots were airing maybe spoiling the film a little bit?) as work and family schedules ramped up.  But this pool is fun and worth all the work that goes into it.

With 69 entries with 18 hours to go (on graph, Hour 66), we are just slightly off 2014’s (72) and 2015’s (73) paces.  If you look at the historical trends since we’ve been doing this entry form since 2002, you can see the majority of the entries come tonight (you can see that last year, from 3 pm to midnight we got 50 entries (from 73 to 123) — that seems like it will be very hard to duplicate).  And remember, Continue reading »

First Four Blowouts

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ff_day1A yawner to begin the tournament as #16Ea-FGCU trounced #16Eb-Fairleigh Dickinson by 30 31 and #11Sb-Wichita St knocked off #11Sa-Vandy by 20.  But the good news is that 21 people entered the HWCI NCAA First Four for Charity meaning that at least $42 will go to Star Wars Force For Change (currently: $46).  BTW, have you checked on the SW:FFC activations, which is the UNICEF Kid Power program where you can buy your kid a fitness device that will help unlock food packets to kids in Africa.  I saw a presentation on this at the IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference last year in Seattle and it’s an interesting concept.

Fifteen got both games correct (16 picked FGCU, 18 WSU) but with the blowouts, Mike M leads with a large 34 point differential.  Two went 0-2 with Sam S in the rear with a 58 point differential.  Today, 12 are rooting for Holy Cross and 17 for Michigan.

6th HWCI NCAA First Four for Charity (Due: 3:40 pm PDT Tuesday)

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Inspiring people to make a positive impact on the world around them.

Inspiring people to make a positive impact on the world around them.

While you decide who will win the tourney, for the 6th year I’m doing the HWCI NCAA First Four for Charity, where I will donate $2 per entry to a charity, this year to Star Wars: Force for Change, which is inspiring people to make a positive impact on the world around them.  This First Four for Charity is free and you just have to submit (you can comment on this post to enter, email, post to Facebook, tweet @HWCI_Pools) who the four First Four winners will be and by what point margin. For example: Vandy by 3, FGCU by 6, Tulsa by 1, and Holy Cross by 15. The four games are Vanderbilt vs Wichita St, Florida Gulf Coast vs Fair. Dickinson, Michigan vs Tulsa, and Holy Cross vs Southern. Get your entry by 3:40 pm PDT Tuesday.  As a bonus, in the end, if we top 161 entries this year, I’ll donate an additional $25.  Also, invite your friends and people can enter this charity contest but not our main pool.