March Sadness R32 Regional Best 4 Matchups
Closing out the Round of 32, here are the remaining four matchups, one from each of the C-V-N-T Regions. Voting will remain open until 4 PM EDT Tuesday. Good luck to the worst.
TheIntern15
March Sadness R32 Region N and Region T – Subsequent Six
Polls will be open until 4 PM EDT Monday. Turnout for the C & V Regions was, quite frankly, disappointing. Be better.
From The 15 vault – 2019 March Sadness Flashback – Round of 32
Some familiar names, and some forgotten ones. And some rematches coming up in the 2022 Tourney. Roche, Carrabis, Shertenwhozits, Burton, Wallach, Pete Abe, McAdam, Thornton, Bob Ryan, Perillo, and Wiggins now 0-2 in Tournament play.
2022 The15 March Sadness Region T – Round One
This is it, the big magillah. Look at these names; look at them! It’s gonna be tough, but the15 have faith in you, our readers. Courage.
Due to weather, polls will remain open until 6 PM tomorrow, Thursday, March 10th.
Region C First Round Results
2022 The15 March Sadness Region C – Round One
Please cast your votes below. Polls will remain open until 1:30 PM EST tomorrow, March 9th. Everybody have fun tonight!
Region N First Round Results & Region V Predictions
A minor upset in the 8 vs. 9 matchup, apparently to know Marshall Hook is to hate him. Otherwise higher seeds advance.
Here’s ‘Patrick from Andover del Norte’ again;
Region U, I mean Region V, preview…
Dan Shaughnessy (1) vs Ken Laird (16) The only way Laird is pulling off this upset is if he finally bites the bullet and makes the switch to Country 93.7. Short of that, the increasingly irrelevant Dan Shaughnessy advances. Don’t expect a deep tournament run from 2011 Father of the Year.
Duke Castiglione (8) vs Hardy (9) Did you know that Hardy isn’t his real name? He’s actual Robert Poole. Did you know that Duke’s first name is actually Joseph? Joe Castiglione Jr has a better nom de guerre than Rob Poole. In this tournament that means Bobby Poole pulls off the minor upset. If anyone knows where he’s working now, please congratulate him.
Kevin Paul Dupont (5) vs Jimmy Stewart (12) There must be a lot of cat fanciers on the selection committee. How else can you explain the low seeding for the feline fetishist? I’m not even sure if KPD is still alive. Sorry TICA members, even the least athletic man on the planet can’t lose to a dead guy. J Stew to Round 2.
Fred Toucher (4) vs Jermaine Wiggins (13) Is Fred the zookeeper with the plain black hat or the one with the spindly arms? Both, neither, who cares? It’s amazing that the dominant morning drive program in a sports crazed region is hosted by such a banal, carpetbagging milquetoast on-air personality. Speaking of toast, Wiggy was the toast of the town 20 years ago, and now he’s a spot performer on Radio Titanic’s morning show. You can’t get much sadder than that. Wiggins advances.
DJ Bean (6) vs Mutt Mutnansky (11) DJ Bean wants to be an irritant. DJ Bean thinks he’s pulling the wool over your eyes. DJ Bean likes to pretend to be ambiguous in the hopes that someone will take the bait. DJ Bean craves attention. DJ Bean doesn’t escape the first round. Mutt keeps clinging to his media aspirations, and he can keep clinging on into round two.
Chris Gasper (3) vs Sean McAdam (14) These two put the sad in March Sadness. Kid Gas left the dying print media for the bright lights of television, quickly failed at narrating highlights, and had to scurry back to the Globe. McAdam works for Greg Bedard, although since he most likely isn’t getting paid, McAdam should really be classified as a volunteer. Gasper matriculates to the subsequent echelon.
Rich Keefe (7) vs Meg Ottolini (10) Rich Keefe wears baseball batting gloves when he plays wiffleball. Sad. People are constantly telling Meg-O how funny she is, and she believes them. Sadder. Ottolini moves on.
Ron Borges (2) vs Christian Arcand (15) On a day when they could have seeded other irrelevant dinosaurs like Eddie Andelman or Bob Ryan, the committee made disgraced plagiarist Ron Borges a 2 seed, a man who once knocked the hat off the head of a crippled boxing writer, and who claims that, if they had gone to school together, he would have taken all of Bill Belichick’s quarters. Christian Arcand, better luck next year. Ronny the Portuguese Man o’ War advances.
Touts on Louts, Part One
Here’s what our in-the-know sources say about the 2022 March Sadness field:
From ‘Señor Carlos’:
Region N:
Greg Bedard (1) vs Jon Wallach (16) Almost a coach, almost hired in Vegas, almost making payroll for his website employees. Wallach is terrible, but no chance of an almost an upset here. Or any chance of an upset. Bedard moves on.
Andrew Callahan (8) vs Marshall Hook (9) Who are these people? When in doubt, pick the higher seed. I guess.
Scott Zolak (5) vs Steve Buckley (12) This is a tough choice. Zo has ruined many great Patriots moments calling the games. Buckley has been a low key hot taker and agenda carrying mediot for decades. Tough choice here, but I got to go with Buck Shot getting the victory. Say tough more.
Trenni Kusnierek (4) vs Phil Perry (13) Perry? Never heard of him. I know Trenni is terrible. She moves on.
Marc Bertrand (6) vs Rob Bradford (11) As terrible as Bradford is, Bertrand used to push back against Felger with his hot takes when he was the third guy on that show. When he got his own show he became a hot taker on Felger’s level. I know, say show more. Marc the 5th Diabeatle advances.
.Adam Jones (3) vs Dan Roche (14) The 100% fraud in Jones vs the 100% real in Roche. Roche upsets Jones. 2nd year in the row Jones loses in the 1st round as a higher seed. Maybe shut down and retool? Or maybe have a cheeseburger or three?
Tom E Curran (7) vs Peter Abraham (10) As we mentioned before about Bertrand pushing back against hot takes, Curran did it more and better for years. At some point, Curran went to the dark side. He has three kids college age, so maybe he was offered more money to go that route? Point is, he knew better but still did it anyway. Curran moves on here, and has a good chance to make the round of16.
Andy Gresh (2) vs John Karalis (15) Hand in the dirt vs ears in the air? I expect Gresh to move on.
‘Patrick from Andover del Norte’:
Region C:
Mike Felger (1) vs Steve Happas (16) The undisputed king of the sportz media airwaves pitted against some guy named Steve. The most lopsided opening round matchup since Dave Egan took on Upton Bell back in 1952. Happas isn’t even the most relevant Dakota in this tournament. Round 1 goes to Felger in a rout.
Mike Giardi (8) vs Brian Scalabrine (9) Scal made most of his waves while commenting on Covid-19 vaccines. Now that he’s at the NFL Network, Mike Giardi is more interested in surfing than making waves. Not being a worthy successor to Tommy Heinsohn isn’t a big enough to beat out one of NBCSN’s original Mean Girls. Giardi moves on to Round 2.
Andy Hart (5) vs Jared Carrabis (12) We’ve entered the body dysmorphia portion of the bracket. Inch for inch, Andy Hart may be the dumbest person in this Region. Carrabis has hitched his wagon to a dying sport, dumb but not dumber than Dumbo. Hart slips through.
Lou Merloni (4) vs Matt Fairburn (13) There was once bidding war for Lou Merloni’s services between the two radio stations. Now Lou doesn’t even have a show. Wait, I’m being told he does have a show, it’s just that no one listens to it. Fairburn came to Boston from his beloved Buffalo to cover the Patriots for the Athletic (which I’ve never read). Stalin would have been proud of the way Fairburn scrubbed his Twitter history. Since then he’s been pretty quiet. Merloni advances.
Fitzy (6) vs Chris Mannix (11) It’s rare to have such a mismatch with a 6 vs an 11. “Thanks Dad” Chris Mannix did his best work in the late 90’s while working in the Celtics locker room, but his nothing more than a minor irritation today. Faux Fitzy on the other hand should be jailed for his cultural appropriation and crimes against humanity (aka his “comedy”). The Greek from New York walks to Round 2.
Jim Murray (3) vs Chris Curtis (14) To think I once enjoyed listening to Big Jim as he spun Dinosaur Junior records on my commute home. The moist(sic) interesting thing about Chris Curtis is promoting some obscure gambling app when she’s not crying. Big Jim may have lost his afternoon DJ slot to Adam 12 back in 2010 but he’s not losing to a poor little rich girl’s Jim Halpert. Large Gymnasium move on.
Rich Shertenlieb (7) vs Mark Dondero (10) My initial reaction to this match up was, ‘who the hell is Rich Shertenlieb?’ Dondero is the biggest wannabe nobody in the market, but better a wannabe than a who the hell. The human embodiment of an epileptic seizure takes this one in for our first upset.
Tony Mazz (2) vs Jason Mastrodonato (15) The luckiest man on the planet, with a face for radio and a voice for print, dominates an unsuspecting, and heretofore unknown Red Sox columnist to close out the first round of Region C. Sone advice for Jason, shorten your last name to “Mass” and repeatedly hit yourself in the nuts with a hammer until your voice goes up six octaves, otherwise you’ll never make it in this market.
Pokes v. Pats Prev, bro.
Note: It’s been a head in my hands type of week. Not feeling well physically or mentally. Had to take off work and I feel so bad about it. I’ll be with you guys 100% moving forward tho. It sucks having to take a mental health breather but I need it.
Well folks, the Patriots did the impossible last Sunday at Houston. They came out victorious. With major gaps on the offensive line due to injury and irresponsibility, New England was able to improve to 2-3. Unfortunately, they are in a dogfight currently for the last Wild Card space with a mere twelve games left on the schedule.
America’s team comes to town on Sunday with weapons that most Patriots fans would covet. There will certainly be a challenge in that Dallas comes to the ‘boro with a two headed attack with explosive players in each facet of the game. (Editor’s Note: there are, of course, three facets to the game) Ezekiel Elliot comes in boasting a massive stature, as if he has been training in a Woburn office park. CeeDee Lamb is a dynamic receiver, begging the question again if the Patriots will ever be able to draft a quality downfield player.
Knowing Mike McCarthy, the Cowboys will do the opposite of what they should do in a game plan in Foxboro. Instead of running the ball consistently, they’ll likely look to pass. Matthew Judon, who has been a force on the DL, will be called upon to have another great game if the Patriots look to have a chance against America’s Team.
Much like a GRAFF on cake, look for New England to play a 3-4 hybrid base on Sunday in an effort to confuse Dak Prescott. Prescott’s struggles have been against teams like the Patriots, and New England’s disciplined front will surely pose a threat to him, even given his weaponz.
The Patriots owner, who ran away like a Braintree lawyer from an underling during deflategate, let the uRI Typical football team use the team’s plane to their game this weekend against Towson. This leaves many questioning where the ownership is during the team’s toughest time. Their former HOF QB has left, because the team gave up on him. No free agents want to play in the area, mainly due to race related incidents on local radio outlets. Yet, the owner seems to think it’s a good idea to just wax poetic with state schools. Playing grabass with people who will be living on Aquidneck island in 3 years, and pulling over at the 7-11 on 138 in an effort to not poop in the car.
In spite of what local podcasts may spew, the Texans were not a good team. That said, there is some value in winning on the road. At the post game press conference, Matt Judon mentioned how it was good to get a win like that, as the team felt that they were playing good ball. In spite of what the pundits say, this has been the case. Ultimately, the team is a fumble and 3’ on a FG attempt away from being 4-1, but close only counts in horseshoes and hydrogen bombs.
All the world will be watching on Sunday. It should be a good matchup. Give me the home team and the points. Patriots 21-14.
A special shout out to friend of the column SteveR. Made good on his wager in regard to the TB Bucs winning by more than 21 points a few weeks back. Please consider a donation to your local animal rescue shelter.
S. Tzu-Pei is an Intern and Lead NFL Writer for The15.
Patriots versus Buccaneers Preview Part 3: The Game
Sunday Night Football this week brings a bittersweet feeling to the area. Much like Robert Parish’s Chicago Bulls ring, many in the area wish that Tom Brady just called it quits and retired as a member of the New England Patriots. Many will speculate as to why he left. Disrespected, sick of the coach, wanted to keep playing, money, all of the above, none of the above. Just like someone with an iPhone thinks that they are Ansel Adams, and someone selling GAP insurance on auto loans thinks that they are an epidemiologist, the local media failed its followers, yet again. Stories blaming the coach, the owner, the player…they’ve all surfaced this week. Much like declining a call from TEC, some conversations are better kept to themselves.
Someday, Bill, or Tom, or maybe even both, will write the book. Until then, all of the stories and speculation are simply heresay. This is the last we will speak of this matter for a few paragraphs.
This is a large game for the Patriots, and mainly because it can get them to 2-2 early in the season. Unlike the Indianapolis Colts, the Patriots understand that there are no banners hung for regular season records, or anything that goes on in the regular season (except that blasphemous 16-0 banner that was hung after the 2007 season). A large part of this game is going to hinge on the health of Trent Brown. I firmly believe that he would have been out there last week, but they wanted to give him one more week to get healthy; as this is going to be more of a pass protect line this week.
Tampa Bay comes to Foxboro off a 10 point road loss in Los Angeles. Matthew Stafford threw for 343 yards and 4 TDs in a game that wasn’t even as close as the final score indicated. Look for New England to play fast on offense. Losing an offensive weapon as versatile as James White is not going to be easy as well, but as the Patriots mantra has always been, next man (sic) up.
From a defensive standpoint, look for the Patriots front line to be a key factor in the game. As reported by the fake/real/not sure Spike King, it appears that former Arizona Wildcat star TE Robert Gronkowski is going to be doubtful out for this game. That said, the weapons that the Bucs bring in on offense are quite impressive. Former domestic abuser and sexual harasser turned non-Patriot and now great guy Antonio Brown is likely to play this week, after missing last week due to COVID concerns. I have a call in to my doctor friend, Jim in Peabody to see if he will be okay or if he will need to be masked during the game. Mike Evans and Orenthal James Howard also bring spark to the Tampa Bay offense. Can expect numerous defensive backs shuttling in and out for the Patriots, in an effort to stay fresh.
Abbott and Costello. Peanut Butter and Jelly. Coffee and Cigarettes. Benzos and MAGA talk. None of these the same without the other. The same has been said for Brady and Belichick. Yet, the first chapter has already been written. We’ll see what the next chapter has in store.
The Buccaneers come in as a 7 point road choice. It’s all the same; only the names have changed. Except for the man coaching the Patriots. The Owl. Since the year 2000, the Patriots are 9-2 ATS in games they are grabbing 7 or more. I’ll take the points. Think this ends up a FG game at the end. Time will tell who comes out on top.
Sunday brings us the showdown that we’ve all been waiting for. So, friends, get your apple picking out of the way sooner than later. Enjoy the Saco IV show. Get all those pesky chores done a little early. While we all know Saturdays are For the Boys, we might have to extend that into Sunday this week.
S. Tzu-Pei is an Intern and Lead NFL Writer for The15.
The 15 