It's Ovah and Father Knows Best - Congrats Tom Wojt - 2026 Hopski Champion!!!

 MICHIGAN TAKES THE TITLE!!!!!!

DAD TAKES DOWN SON TO WIN THE 2026 HOPSKI CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!!

Click Clack Speedy's Back from Tom Wojt took the Hopski, driven by being the ONLY entry this year to pick both teams in the Championship Game!  When contacted at his home office in Long Island, Wojt was somewhat somber - feeling a bit sad not for the beatdown of his son Tristan (who finished out of the $$$), but that Tristan will be off to college in the fall and this might be the last Championship Game the two of them take in together for some time (ever?).  That nostalgia lasted about 15 seconds and Tom demanded his winnings (not really - but reads well!).  Tom becomes the 23rd Hopski Champion (each has their own locker in the Hopski Hall of Champions - we don't go cheap and make them share like Augusta baby!!).

The Final Leaderboard of the 2026 Hopski

Before we get to any further discussions about the Hopski Podium Finishes - please note - your $5 donation per entry as well as the VERY GENEROUS DONATIONS have raised a total of $1,560 for the Polish Humanitarian Fund in their relief efforts for the Ukrainian Refugees.  THANK YOU!!!!

BACK TO THE PODIUM!!!

Its Simple.  I WIN.  Google Me! from your Commish TOOK 2ND PLACE THIS YEAR and enabled a return to the podium and even a Top 10 finish for the first time since 2002 mind you!!  

Hmmmm - something else happened in 2002.....  

    CORRELATION?  CURSE?

We celebrated 2nd place with a 8.5 mile family hike on Tuesday, only to reach the summit at The Pinnacles State Park and bip - I get a text from our landlords notifying us they decided to move back into "our" place and we have to be out by June 30th.  That was a bit of a jolt - anyway - back to the wonderful world of Zillow - DAMN!!!  By the way (for those of you living in caves) - my entry name is from Cignetti's Presser upon being hired as IU's Football Coach 2 1/2 years ago and I absolutely love it.  So much that I wear it!!!!

On to third place and lo and behold - we have a 2 Peat for A-Train (Aaron Weller, of Seymour Indiana and one of the dominant forces at the Indiana HPER building where we hooped daily back in the glorious Indiana U days!).  A-Train has no explanation for the 3s - but did throw out a tidbit to Hopski fans that he was the still proud winner of the Everett Dean award in 1984 given to the outstanding HS basketball player each year at Salem HS.  

Here is Aaron and his son in front of the Everett Dean statue at Indiana U.

FYI - Everett Dean was an all-american at IU, then coached at IU before leaving for Stanford, where he coached Stanford to the 1942 NCAA Championship (I did not know that - maybe there is a statue out here somewhere in Palo Alto!).

As we continue the path of Hopski oddities this year, we get to the Toilet Bowl Champion (last place).  

It was a battle to the end (from the end could be more appropriate I guess) as Niparoo10 and Amy Kenney seemingly had a lock on what would have been a hard to believe (because she is trying) 3rd consecutive Hopski Toilet Bowl (we might have had to send her one from Hopski HQ for such a feat!).  She was matched by dBar (Deb Baratz) and with both players out of winners before the final weekend - we had to wait for the Monday Night Tiebreaker to decide the outcome and Amy's hold on the Toilet Bowl was broken by WINNING the tiebreaker, leaving dBar this year's Toilet Bowl Champion!!!

Here's Deb - an Iowa Hawkeye alum and currently residing in NYC (she did not tell me where this pic was from but I would guess Italy or Spain maybe?)....  Congrats on the Toilet Bowl and you get free entry next year!!

Deb's quote before Monday night's final game "Headbutters don't win championships.  Big 10 Nation once again will get it done" came true (thankfully).

Backing up to the oddities comment - dBar not only "won" the Toilet Bowl but also took her first weekend knowledge and turned it around - WINNING the Hopski 2nd Chance Dance!!!!  Congratulations Deb on something that has never been done before - finishing last in the main pool and winning the 2nd Chance Dance!!!

Last but not least let's announce this year's voting results for the BEST HOPSKI ENTRY NAME (which garners fame and a free entry for the 2027 Hopski).

Honorable mention goes to:

The Blind Squirrel (Mike Dorsey), Garbage In, Bracket Out (Bryan Mazlish), One Boozer After Another (Joe Seib), Next Year I'm Asking Gronk (Ron Genty) and Rags to Humrichous (Justin Lockhard - the defending champion) - but these entries were nudged out by a 2 vote margin by......

TRIPLE YAXEL (Susan Grundberg)!!!

No New All-Time Hopski Records set this year - though 2015 Redux:  Making it 6 in '26 (Stan Kwitnieski of Denver, CO) tied the record of 29 out of 32 1st round winners!

The final accounts for the 2026 Hopski

FINALLY - AN UPDATE OF OUR STATS - WITHIN WHICH THIS YEAR DID NOT REALLY STANDOUT TOO MUCH BUT IF YOU MADE IT THIS FAR - YOU DESERVE FULL SERVICE SO HERE IT IS!!

It is late here at Hopski HQ and I apologize for the light blogging this year - but it was a surprising busy March Madness for the Commish!!

Bookmark the blog - that is always the easiest way to find the Hopski come March next year when against all common sense the Hopski will ride again!!

Adios!

Father vs Son........for the Hopski Championship!!

Hollywood has delivered a few father / son battles over the years - 

Luke vs Phil

Darth Vader vs Luke

NOW - THE 2026 HOPSKI BRINGS TO YOU AN EXCLUSIVE

TOM WOJT VS TRISTAN WOJT

Indeed, for the first time in Hopski History, we have a father vs son final for the crown!!  Click Clack Speedys Back (Tom Wojt, international tax guru and former Warsaw expat - back home now in Long Island) vs PickupTryhard! (Tristan - son of Tom - soon to be a college freshman playing football at Ithaca College).  No question about where the Commish would place a bet in a physical battle between these two, I saw his Dad leave a chain of welts on his cousin at an Oktoberfest induced death match in their hotel room - the chain being ripped off the fridge to be used as a weapon of whip!!!  This man knows what it means to use all resources in a death match.  And in this soon to be settled battle, Father seems to know best as he will take the Hopski title if the Michigan Wolverines dispose of the UConn Huskies!  On the flip side - Dad will still get 2nd if UConn wins and it will be quite a haul for the Wojt household in this year's Hopski!!

Its Simple. I WIN. Google Me from the Commish needs a Michigan victory to secure runner-up this year.  It's easily my first competitive year in about 20 years..... a mere coincidence from the birth of the first of three daughters??!! This would be the first podium for THE HOPSKI after Championships in 1999 and 2002.  Geesh - that is almost as bad as Indiana's fall from grace (in basketball of course!).

A-Train & Aaron Weller (Seymour, Indiana and IU alum - also a dominant force at the HPER during our college days) look for another Hopski 1st - back to back 3rd place finishes!

The other potential podium winner with a UConn win is Blue Wave Sweep 30-0 (Susan Eslick of Denver, CO - another IU alum and former neighbor of the Commish in the post-IU Chicago days back at 952 Montana Ave!).  Susan also picked up 2nd place back in 2007!

As mentioned Saturday, Niparoo 10 and Amy Kenney are going for an unprecedented 3-Peat as Toilet Bowl "Winner", needing to lose the tiebreaker to dbar (Deb Baratz, an Iowa alum - boy you will have some great basketball to enjoy for year's to come from BOTH programs and a resident of NYC), as both are sitting on 56 points in this year's pool.  Niparoo 10 picked 146 total points and dbar forecast 157.  Whichever one LOSES the tiebreaker takes the title and by my calculation (@JackBell - Pool Auditor - please check this!), Niparoo 10 will lose if the point total is 152 or more.

Dbar can pull a unique double this year, as with a Michigan victory, Debbie will take the 2nd Chance Dance title!  The Karabman#2 from Don King (Rocky Hill, CT resident and winner of 3rd place as a rook in the 2022 Hopski in 20 is pulling in more ways than one presumably for a UConn title to take the 2nd Chance Dance!

Good luck to all of the Hopskis and MAKE SURE you have paid (I will hunt you down if not as soon as I have time to review payments!!!).  

The remainder of the standings:

A Happy Easter to All - Get Your Vote for BEST ENTRY NAME in today please!!

 

Well not really pet names per say.........  ENTRY NAMES!!!!

But only the best!!  

Combining pop culture, the Hopski and March Madness..... (aka Gady Dick in a Box - Joe Sieb's 2023 winner)

or just plain quirky clever works too (aka Winner Winner Chicken Dinner from Kevin Rockwell - the FIRST Best Entry Name winner from back in 2006!)

So email me TODAY to let me know YOUR VOTE for the 2026 BEST ENTRY NAME IN THE POOL.....

 (YOUR CANNOT VOTE FOR YOUR OWN ENTRY!!!)

Our Hopski Entry Name Champions

Hopski Final Four Prequel

While not Hopski Pool related, let's start off with UConn Gene's bad behavior during and after last night's National Women's Semi-Final loss to South Carolina.  As he reminded everyone about 15 times during his at times unhinged post-game press conference, he has led Uconn Women's Team to 25 Final Fours and 12 Championships - I would not argue that he is one of the greatest NCAA basketball coaches of all-time.  No doubt.

But.......  as an old white man coaching women's basketball myself, he did not do any favors for any of us OWM in the women's sporting world a favor last night.  Aside from distracting everyone from what was an AMAZING performance by the Gamecock women's team last night (executing to perfection an excellent game plan by Dawn Staley and her staff btw), Gene acted out the stereotypical dominant and demonstrative (aka The General) white male coaching style of the 80s and 90s and thereafter (at least in his presser) refused to acknowledge his mistake.  Today - he apologized in a published statement, but it was clear therein that he did not apologize to Dawn Staley (SC's head coach) but merely to the SC staff and players.  Hopski HQ believes he could and should have gone the full mile with a clear public apology to Dawn.

Here's to rooting for another championship Sunday for a great coach - Dawn Staley!

Now - on to the HOPSKI!!!

Wish I Was in Sitges (2012 Hopski Champion Jay Baum of SF) is making a strong run at a wire to wire victory, as he had led at each stop to date, though he'll need the Illini to knock off UConn to have a shot as only 2 entries have picked the Illini to the final.

Making a strong move into 2nd place is Claude's Mo-Ney Picks (Glen Gregory, a long-time Warsaw, Poland expat who is now in Mexico City with a Polish based company - so maintaining his expat status!).  Here is a 1997 pic and he is the only one with a tie - might even have been the last time he wore one!  Glen's cracked the top 10 a couple of times and won the 2nd Chance Dance back in 2011, but this is his 1st serious attempt at a place on the Hopski Podium!

Moving 5 spots up to 3rd place is It's Simple, Google Me, I Win!  One of 2 Commish entries this year and have to say that it has been a long, long, long time since I had an entry contend past the Sweet 16!  Unfortunately this entry only has legs for a best finish of 2nd place - but hey - I'm A Contendah!!!!  Speaking of old photos - here is shot from 2002 of me cleaning snow off of my Satellite in Warsaw at about 1am in the morning during the 1st round of the tournament as the blizzard was messing up the signal for Kyle Bowers and I!!  Keep in mind there was a slope that you cannot see from Kyle's photo angle up there.  One of those "for any of you kids out there, don't try this at home" moments.  Gotta LOVE the Madness!!

At the end of this blog I will include the entire standings in "Hopski" format (not so big of a fan of the online auto leaderboard).  To the left of places, you can see the +/- move up or down the leaderboard from the Sweet 16 standings.

On that note - a shout out for a 66 spot move up the leaderboard to 5th place for SendHelp!!! (Brad Miller - I believe one of Steve Miller's sons and based in Bloomington - but I cannot swear by that as no time to verify and I am already 30 minutes of real time late to watch the Illini/UConn semi).   Brad picked 7 of the Elite 8 teams to lead the pool (unfortunately missing his Champion Florida) - the only entry this year to do so.

OK - my alarm just went off for the LA28 ticket lottery slot that my daughter Natalia has secured for me to order Olympic Tickets!!  We'll see how this works out - but it is a small side benefit of her going to USC and living in an apartment in LA!!!

Not to be overlooked is the Battle for the Toilet Bowl - as dbar (Deb Baratz) and 2 time defending Toilet Bowl Champion Niparoo10 (Amy Kenney) are tied and the tiebreaker for the "winner" will be the points total on Monday night.  Amy Kenney - oh my - I was impressed with Ryan's back to back Hopski Championships - but 3 Toilet Bowls in a row could top that!!

Enjoy the Final Four!!

The Commish

A Shout Out to the ONLY BACK 2 BACK HOPSKI CHAMPION - RYAN FAZIO!

A quick shout-out and belated Happy Birthday (March 27th) to......

RYAN FAZIO 

(Student-Athlete Memorial Bracket & Dan Hurley School of Anger Management) 

1) THE ONLY BACK 2 BACK CHAMPION IN HOPSKI HISTORY (2019, 2021); 

and.....

2)  THE NEXT GOVERNOR OF THE GREAT STATE OF CONNECTICUT

https://ryanfazio.com/

*ORDERED BY PRIORITY OF COURSE!!

PLEASE NOTE - WITH APOLOGIES......

I have a lot of moving parts right now and am swamped (e.g. family holiday to Hawaii just got canned!) - so as much as I'd love to update the pool (as your Commish is contending for the first time in many years!) - it will hopefully be squeezed in shortly but not today.

In the meantime - EMAIL me your votes for best entry names please.  One vote per your entry and the "Susan Eslick" rule - YOU CANNOT VOTE FOR YOUR OWN ENTRY!!

Back to you soon -

Your Commish

Sweet 16 Preview - How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By The Hawkeye Nation

1st OFF, PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE

 YOUR ENTRY NAME IN THE MAIN POOL!!!!

Let's start by first mentioning the overreaction by Gator head coach Todd Golden last weekend to a very poor viewing angle of the Spaniard player NOT taking any kind of a swing at the FL player.   Not saying I would be above such a reaction myself, but Golden just lost it - clearly forgetting to channel his inner Brad Stevens......

Todd Golden in reaction to ref explaining to him the double technical call following the scuffle between Alvaro Folgueiras and Alex Condon: “Are you fucking kidding me? You mother fucker, man.”

You want some of this??

The final 10 seconds of the game showed coaching composure under pressure by Iowa's Ben McCullum when, with each coach facing a similar defensive situation (ahead by 1 or 2, other team with ball out opposite end and single digit seconds to go) - McCullum keeps the ball in front on the indbounds while Golden goes aggressive and immediately upon inbound Iowa has a 3 on 2 for the victory.  Golden with a big and well deserved lesson there!!  LOVED IT!!

ON TO THE PRE-SWEET 16 LEADERBOARD

Yes - as an added bonus the old +/- movement within the Hopski standings has been added to the Leaderboard!!!  

Wish I Was In Sitges (Jay Baum, SF Bay area resident and Cal Berkeley alum) stretched his round 1 lead a bit further in Rd 2 and takes an 8 point lead on the Hopski field into the Sweet 16.  Jay leads the pool in dog points, pick %, scoring, and had picked 14 of the Sweet 16.  Just an all around impressive first weekend for sure!

Taco Trader (David Miller of Muscle Shoals, AL - son of Steven Miller - my boss while at IU) is another former champion that is contending this year and slipped to 2nd with his 12/16 effort.

Moving 2 places into 3rd is Gone Zagging (Matt Powell - no - NOT that Matt Powell but another Matt Powell that I know little about aside from he is not THAT Matt Powell that many of us know from Indiana days!).  

Iowa's knockout of defending champion Florida was certainly a knock-out as well of quite a few Hopski entrants, as 27 entries had Florida into the championship game and 13 had them picked as Champion.  Adios to those folks.  Aside from the Gators, 3 entries had Gonzaga picked and single entries had picked Wisconsin, Virginia and North Carolina to win the title this year - so a total of 19 entries are OUT (pretty certain anyway that they cannot win the thing!!!).

Kudos to 5 entries that picked Iowa into the Sweet 16 - a shout out to A Modern DAy Chambo, Mean, Mean Stride (Jeff Chamberlain), Kelly 2 Much Time on My Hands #surgery (Kelly Peterson - get well soon BTW!), March Crabness (Chris Miller), Triple Yaxel (Susan Grundberg and oh I LOVE THE ENTRY NAME!!) and finally Trump & Iran Up Uncle Hop's Bar Tab (nice work by my Godson - Elliott Achepohl).

At the bottom of the standings - Wall-E Szczerbiak (Aaron Jackson) has taken the Toilet Bowl lead from The Russian Judge (Mark Iantosca by the slimmest of 1 point margins, though the odds on favorite for this year's Toilet Bowl appears to be DBAR (Deb Baratz) - who has set a low bar of 70 max points for her entry, already guaranteeing a no toilet bowl chance for 70 entrants!!  DBar as well as Niparoo 10 both managed to pick just 4 of the sweet 16 - OUCH!!

It is time to get to bed here - but below is a full Leaderboard Format of the entire pool standings along with max, min, average and STD DEVIATION no less!!!  Hopefully you do not have to look too far down to find your entry!!!

Adios - The Commish

Oh and why not toss in our historical pool stats by year as well:

URGENT!! Get your entries in for this years FREE (as always) HOPSKI 2ND CHANCE DANCE SWEET 16 POOL!!

It has been a minute since you heard from the Commish and indeed a pre-Sweet 16 update will be coming Thursday before tip-off.  Atleast I will do my best as

For one thing, there's the jet lag......

So what can I say, 

BUT IT IS TIME for YOUR 2nd chance at Hopski glory - so get your entries in for the Hopski 2nd Chance Dance Pool by Thursday 7pm EST!!

CLICK HERE to complete your 2026 Hopski 2nd Chance Dance Sweet 16 Brackets or just go login at RYP and click on "2026 Hopski 2nd Chance Dance (Sweet 16 Pool)", then "make your picks"!

Same scoring as the main tournament, with upset points available for brave picks!

Entry is included with your $30 (that you have already paid - right?!)  Payment required BEFORE Sweet 16 starts or no 2nd Chance Dance entry BTW) and you can win 5% of the prize pool with a 1st Place Finish!!

You are limited to 1 entry for each paid entry in this year's Hopski Main Pool.

Pick well!  Good luck! Oh - and......

The Commish