The 15

March Sadness 2026 – Round 2 Preview

Posted on March 16, 2026 by naop Leave a comment

Round 1 had everything you could hope for in a media tournament… everyone had a reason to be upset about something. There were a few mild upsets, some close fought one-vote victories, our first ever shutout win, plus a voting scandal! A veritable charcuterie board of results. #yummy

What does Round 2 have in store? Let’s consult the Oracles and find out…

Region C
1 Greg Bedard vs 8 Mike Kadlick
The former champ is coming to reclaim his crown.

4 Matt McCarthy vs 5 Dan Shaughnessy
Shank may be irrelevant, but still not as irrelevant as one of the myriad of doofus interchangeable bearded call screeners polluting the airwaves.

3 Adam Jones vs 6 Jarred Carrabis
Adam Jones will get exponentially more votes than he has listeners, and take out Carrubish.

2 Fred Toucher vs 7 Nick “Fitzy” Stevens
The Detroit drunk takes the carpetbagger crown from the Greek New Yorker.

Old Jazz recordings, or sports radio? Choose wisely.

Region V
1 Jim Murray vs 8 Christian Arcand
Large Gymnasium mops the floor with Ahhhhhhhcand

4 Pete Abraham vs 12 Chris Curtis
What’s the opposite of easy on the eyes? The tortoise will nip the sentient garden gnome in the bud.

3 Andy Hart vs 6 Brian Scalabrine
In this neurologically divergent version of “David and Goliath”, Goliath knocks himself out while David drools in the corner.

2 Marc Bertrand vs 7 Mark Dondero
The Far Side kid rolls on to the Sour Sixteen

Region N
1 Gabrielle Starr vs 9 Jerry Thornton
A Rabbi’s daughter and an elderly born-again Catholic man walk into a bar, and each leaves with a greater respect for the other and a deeper understanding of the world.
Gabby wins this battle in the never-ending Holy War.

4 Kevin Paul Dupont vs 5 John Zannis
John’s Anus runs away with this one.

3 Michael Felger vs 6 Kenni Middleton
Unfortunately Kendra is away on yet another “business” trip. Felger waltzes on.

Excellent? Not so sure about that, Tone.

2 James Stewart vs 10 Andrew Callahan
It’s every caricature artist’s dream matchup. The Sports Hub’s Hunchback rings Wojak’s bell.

Region T
1 Ted Johnson vs 8 Trenni Casey
CTEd is going to beat Trenni so bad you’ll think she is his wife

4 Rich Keefe vs 5 Scott Zolak
Zo kicks Dick Teeth’s dick and teeth in.

3 Albert Breer vs 6 Rob Bradford
New TikTok lifehack: Using fresh urine to get wrinkles out of your t-shirts! Breer whizzes past Mushmouth.

2 Chris Gasper vs 7 Rob “Hardy” Poole
Eric Rueb supporters will know exactly how Buffalo Bills fans feel after Kid Gas prances past Poole. Oh what might have been!

Vote early and vote often!

March Sadness 2026 Schedule Update

Posted on March 14, 2026 by TheIntern15 Leave a comment

Round One is in the books, and we have the Round of 32 coming next week. Regions V and T will go on Tuesday, March 17th, then on Thursday March 19th Regions C and N will compete.

2026 March Sadness Round One Day Three

Posted on March 13, 2026 by scartsy15 Leave a comment

And the thrilling conclusion to the March Sadness first round commences today! Polls will close at 11:00 PM EDT.

2026 March Sadness Round One Day Two

Posted on March 12, 2026 by scartsy15 Leave a comment

Some great matchups today. Polls will remain open a little longer today, until 11 PM EDT.

March Sadness Round One – Day Two Preview

Posted on March 12, 2026 by naop Leave a comment

Welcome to Day 2 of March Sadness 2026! Things got off to a roaring start on Tuesday, with Jerry Thornton and Matt McCarthy ekeing out one vote victories. Jarad Carrabis and Mark Dondero also scored single digit victories in a hard-fought opening round. One other Day 1 highlight was Bert Breer recording the first ever shutout in tournament history, by jumping out to a 50-0 lead over Jeff Howe and triggering the Mercy Rule circuit breaker. Such an embarrassing showing would be enough to drive a man to drink!

Region C
8 Mike Kadlick vs Taylor Kyles 9
Kadlick kicks Kyles’ keister.

5 Dan Shaughnessy vs Kevin Millar 12
This looks like a fait accompli for the CHB, but don’t let Millar win today!

Nick “Fitzy” Stevens 7 vs Cerrone Battel 10
New York’s finest should roll over the Raleigh NC DPW worker in this Battle of Fake Bostonians.

Region V
Jim Murray 1 vs James “Scaz” Scaramozino WC
The 43 seconds it took to look up Scaz’s real name was a waste of time.

Brian Scalabrine 6 vs Drew Carter 11
The public finally gets to decide who is at more at fault for the diminished quality of the Celtics TV broadcasts! (It’s Scal)

Marc Bertrand 2 vs Brian Barrett 15
Bertrand swallows Barrett whole. A little shaking, a little tenderizing, and down he goes.

Region N
Kevin Paul “E” Dupont 4 vs Joe Haggerty 13
A blowout on paper, but expect Porkchop Joe to make this tighter than the top button on his shirt. However KPED will prevail.

Phil Perry 7 vs Andrew Callahan 10
The sentient Wojak cartoon upsets Curran’s boy toy.

Region T
Rob “Hardy” Poole 7 vs John Karalis 10
Hardy wins the battle of the balds.

Chris Gasper 2 vs Eric Rueb WC
Rueb can always cherish that memory of his wild card win.

Vote early and vote often!

3/11/26 Cleaning Out the Sports Junk Drawer

Posted on March 11, 2026 by scartsy15 Leave a comment

I never hear anything about Tatum’s rehab except for people bitching about always hearing about it.

Do fake food allergies count abroad?

You’re laughing? I’m groggy because I had an hour of my life stolen from me and you’re laughing? (The hour I lost was from watching the premiere episode of ‘R.J. Decker’.)

In today’s NFL you need a roster with a mix of hyphens and apostrophes in the names to succeed.

The NBA should store all evidence of Edrice Adebayo’s 83 point game in the same vault they keep the “proof” of Wilt’s “100 point game.”

And no, I ain’t calling a grown man, ‘Bam.’

Wonder how many Bruins fans are aware TDGarden each night offers $5 draft beer (12 oz)?

How do we convince Yoshi to play for the Red Sox like he does in World Baseball Classic games?

It’s not plagiarism if no one hears it.

Cakes are cooking for Rupert Murdoch, Sam Donaldson, Mark Stein, Bobby McFerrin, Nina Hagen, Curtis Brown, Rob Paulsen, Cheryl Lynn, James Pinkerton, Mike Percy, Alex Kingston, Wallace Langham, John Barrowman, Rami Jaffee, Johnny Knoxville, Adam Wakeman, Bobby Abreu, Becky Hammon, Benji Madden, Joel Madden, Elton Brand, Thora Birch, Anthony Davis, and Jodie Comer.

Fun fact: Jason Tatum had his face tattooed on his repaired Achilles tendon.

Nice weather we’re having, eh?

Hold onto your hats but I have a crush on the white girl from Duke.

I don’t know how to pronounce ‘Doubs.’

Complain more about McAvoy playing “hero ball.”

Watching 3 basketball games at once is terrible.

Blue Line: Delays of about 10 minutes while a maintenance train inspects the overhead wires between Airport and Wonderland. Trains may stand by at stations.

Knowing the name of an NBA official is a warning sign, like a check engine light.

Hey gang of tournament enjoyers! This week’s Phrase that Pays is, “They hear us.’

I’m gonna get in the car
Drive away
Drive so far
No one’s gonna find me
Put my foot on the gas
Accelerate
Drive so fast
No one’s gonna catch me.

Gonna get in the car
Drive away
Drive so far
No one’s gonna find me
Put my foot on the gas
Accelerate
Drive so fast
No one’s gonna catch me.

It’s about time for CHB to plague poor Bob Cousy and his family by heading off to Worcester to ask the 97-year-old legend whom Pritchard reminds him of.

So Brady is a witless incompetent GM who screwed up a simple trade, correct?
That’s the way this works.

Best of luck tomorrow against Miami of Ohio, UMass.

Sealants!

Really weird when a random old Red Sox game is on NESN+ and you realize pretty quickly you were at it.

Honk if you remember New York Jet QB Geno Smith. I have news about that.

A man broke my Nespresso machine! A one-armed man! You find that man!

Who is your favorite sports agent or agency? Let us know in the comments.

You can tell I’m a serious basketball fan because I refer to a flagrant as an F1.

Kyle Teel is Italian? Austin Wells is Dominican?

Stick tap to the Selection Committee.

Best bet for the weekend: a Donaldbrook over to Southie, kid.

Material from interviews, wire services, Twitter, Meta, other writers, league and team sources, Joe Giza, Old Friends Lebron and Canadian Soldier, and the members of #the15 were used in this column. Don’t worry. Be happy.

*And happy birthday to American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, entrepreneur, and philanthropist Lisa Loeb.*

2026 March Sadness Round One Day One

Posted on March 10, 2026 by scartsy15 Leave a comment

In either a stinging rebuke of the Selection Committee’s choices, or a positive affirmation of their Wild Card selections, the voters have swept all four wild cards to victory over their normally seeded opponents. What a moment! Polls for the first full day of the Tournament will remain open until 9 PM EDT tonight, March 10th. Please enjoy.

2026 March Sadness Wild Card Play-in Matches

Posted on March 9, 2026 by scartsy15 Leave a comment

Here we go, the official start of March Sadness! RA! Stiz! Scaz! Rueb! Wild cards, or carney slang from the 1930’s? You be the judge of that!

Polls will close at 9:00 PM EDT, Btw.

2026 March Sadness Tournament Bracket Reveal

Posted on March 8, 2026 by scartsy15 Leave a comment

Play -in Games Region C 10 Seed Dave O’Brien (NESN) vs wild card Brian “Rear Admiral” McGonagle (Barstool), Region V 16 Seed Travis Thomas (NESN) vs wild card James “Scaz” Scaramozzino (98.5), Region N 12 Seed Mark Daniels (MassLive) vs wild card Stanley “Stiz Grimey” Bruno (WEEI), and Region T 15 Seed Chris Forsberg (NBCSB) vs wild card Eric Rueb (ProJo).

The play-in games will be on Monday, March 9th. The rest of the field will begin on Tuesday March 10th, then Thursday and Friday of that week.

2026 March Sadness Tournament Field of 68

Posted on March 5, 2026 by scartsy15 Leave a comment

Oyez, oyez! All those having business before the Tournament Selection Collaborative Committee of The15net dot com division of The Local Collaborative, take care and know the following will comprise the Field of 68 in the 6th Annual Mediot Madness/March Sadness Tournament:

Radio – Christian Arcand (WEEI) Marc Bertrand (98.5) Mike Felger (98.5) Andy Hart (WEEI) Greg Hill (WEEI) Ted Johnson (WEEI) Adam Jones (WEEI) Rich Keefe (WEEI) Joe Murray (98.5) Rob “Hardy” Poole (98.5) Nick “Fitzy” Stevens (WEEI) Fred Toucher (98.5) Scott Zolak (98.5)

Print – Peter Abraham (Globe) Andrew Callahan (Herald) Mark Daniels (MassLive) Kevin Paul Dupont (Globe) Chad Finn (Globe) Chris Gasper (Globe/98.5) John Karalis (SI) Doug Kyed (Herald) Sean McAdam (MassLive) Dan Shaughnessy (Globe) Christopher Smith (MassLive) Gabrielle Starr (Herald) Gary Washburn (Globe)

Television – Albert Breer (NBCSB) Lucille Burdge (NESN) Tom Caron (NESN) Jared Carrabis (NESN/98.5/Underdog) Drew Carter (NBCSB) Trenni Casey (NBCSB) Chris Forsberg (NBCSB) Lou Merloni (NESN) Kevin Millar (NESN) Dave O’Brien (NESN) Phil Perry (NBCSB) Brian Scalabrine (NBCSB) Travis Thomas (NESN)

Digital – Brian Barrett (The Ringer) Greg Bedard (BSJ) Rob Bradford (Audacy/WEEI) Mike Giardi (BSJ) Joe Haggerty (BSJ) Grant “Hogdale” Huckdale (Barstool) Jeff Howe (The Athletic) Mike Kadlick (CLNS) Taylor Kyles (CLNS) Evan Lazar (Patriots) Bob Ryan (CLNS/Globe) Jerry Thornton (Barstool) John Zannis (CLNS)

At large – Cerrone Battle (98.5) Tom “Freeze Pops” Carroll (WEEI) Courtney Cox (WEEI) Chris Curtis (WEEI) Mark Dondero (98.5) Michael Hurley (???) Kendra Middleton (98.5) Matt McCarthy (98.5) Jim Murray (98.5) Meghan Ottolini (WEEI/Celtics) Jimmy Stewart (98.5) Matt Vautour (MassLive)

This years Wild Card play-in contestants- Stanley “Stiz Grimey” Bruno (WEEI) Brian “Rear Admiral” McGonagle (Barstool) Eric Rueb (ProJo), James “Scaz” Scaramozzino (98.5). They will participate in the 4 play-in games in advance of Round One.