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

A bit of a throwback to the old "HOPSKI LIVE BLOG" days of watching a game....

Once I got the AI stuff sorted out, I had a LOT of fun watching the Iowa / Florida game and then figured I would jot down some notes while watching.  It is not as fun of a read as the old 3am LIVE MARCH MADNESS BLOGS from Warsaw, but figured why not share instead of wasting it.....

Notes started at the 10:45 or so mark of 2nd half - with Iowa just moving to take a 55-45 lead with some beautiful basketball!!!  I was a huge McCollum fan before this game and now - well......

Oh man just feeling for Iowa as they have played a great game but w 10 mins left some bad breaks (missed layup, dribbled off foot on a breakaway 49 secs later) and now they are facing a real gut check moment w game tied and FL having ball and all momentum w 7 min to go.  Iowa had a few possessions where they did not attack until midway thru shot clock too and came up empty with forced shots at end of shot clock.  Oh man cmon Hawks

Just game up a dunk and now down 2.  FL crowd going nuts and Koch gets a wide open corner three AND….. nails it!!!   That shot may have saved Iowa!!

Arghhh.  fl comes right back with a 3 and we hav another hit check moment for Iowa!!!!!!

Oh man.  A missed 3 and FL can stretch the lead.    Oh nooooo Gators another bucket and Iowa down 4 with 5:39 to go. 

Koch just buries a late shot clock 3 right over short FL defender and BOOM!!!!!!!!!   Iowa up 1 w 4 to go!!

What a great game!!!

Oh man. BOTH teams trade missed 1 and 1s and a terrible call now against Iowa give FL another one and one with they convert.  Damn bad luck on that call.  

Iowa down 1 w ball and 3:20 to go. Feels like they are hanging by a thread. Getting no flow from offense and launching long threes when shot clock running out.  

Oh geesh. Banks misses another one and one.  

Damn.  Iowa down to after another paint score layup by FL.  Not seeing how Iowa gets their mojo back.  Turning into another scare for a top seed that makes them stronger. 

Damn.  Iowa missing 1 and 1s and nothing easy from offense.  Oh my - The Spaniard with a great backdoor pass and Iowa down 1!!!   Finally some offensive movement!!

Oh geesh.  After FL score and now down 3 with FL ball.  1:20 to go.  Looking dismal for Hawks.  

Love this game though.

Iowa challenge that could be huge w 1:20 left.  

This idea of only 2 challenges per game and even if they are successful you get no more?!   Seriously?!

Iowa ball!!!!!!  There is hope in Iowa City!!!!   Wish they were playing in San Jose next week.  I get stuck rooting against Purdue in person!!

Stirtz down the lane and it is a 1 pt game!!!

Iowa gets ball back and here we go - D2 to Drake to Iowa what a story this will make as Stirtz drives and…. Misses??!!   Noooooooooo

FL fouled w 8 seconds to go and missed the first.  Makes 2nd.

Oh what a game. Iowa down 2 w 8 seconds to go.  

Ohhhhhhjjjjjjj!    

The Spaniard nails a 3333333333333333333!!!!!!!   

Oh what a great shot.  It was a no doubter for him after it left his hands.  It felt good.  You could see it.  

Oh my what a great shot.  He had not seen his mom in person since August and she is there watching.  

Oh.  No.  4.5 left fo FL.  Oh no not another Santa Clara boom boom and you are out finish.  

Wow.  Gators don’t get a shot off. Surprised they did not go with Boogie instead of Lee.  Too many people in the lane to make that pass and Lee went baseline under basket and had no shot!   

Wowowowowowow!  

Defending Champs - GONE!!!

Oh love this!!!

Iowa to the Sweet 16 and hey - why not more Ben - I ask you!

All I want to do is just watch the darn games in peace (and in chronological order without spoilers)!!

 

OK - watching the games from Europe has obviously come a LONG way since the first Hopski back in 1999.  I am pretty sure it was ESPN International or something to that extent, with the most memorable non-basketball thing that I can recall was the commercial showing a bunch of Saudi's dressed in white at a football match singing the "WE WILL ROCK YOU" (@Kyle Bowers - refresh my memory on this one).  They ran that same commercial over and over and over again.  That was tough to stomach on the 6pm to 6am March Madness Marathons that we would endure as basketball starved expats in Warsaw!

That was actually a huge leap over calling my Mom back in March 1993 to hear the end of Indiana's regional final game and having her put the phone up to the TV in order hear the end of the Indiana / Kansas game and to know if I was getting on a plane for New Orleans (I did go but not to see Indiana, who lost that game to Kansas and Oostertag).  I did have a great view of this:

To this day I love flashing the time-out sign when I see anyone wearing Michigan Maize and Blue!

Thus, it is maybe a bit of soft privilege showing through in my old age when I complain about watching games here in Spain this morning my time.

Thank you Uncle Mickey for making this weekend a piece of cake (well almost) to watch the March Madness games live or on convenient replays with commercial breaks cut out (not halftimes though - not sure the why on that one but why be picky right?).

All was going well until this morning (Monday) when I sat down at 7am to watch the post-Purdue Sunday night games on replay.  See for the past few days all replays were in original order of finish - making it easy to watch without spoilers.  This morning I thus was confused to see the Purdue game last on the replay options and my spoiler radar went up immediately!  The obvious solution to save the day - CHECK CHAT GPT!!

This is where things got a bit ugly and I lost a lot of confidence in the AI race.  In fairness the below discussion seemed to go well - but then the wheels came off.  What gets me are the apologies though that are supposed to make up for an obvious blunder!!

Seemed like a simple question - but it would be good to know the teams that are playing.....

BOOM!  I was happily clicked on the Tennessee vs Virginia game and settled back with my granola and yoghurt to enjoy a few hours of Madness.....  Unfortunately about 10 minutes into the game the announcers share "what an amazing finish to the St John's / Kansas game as the Johnnies won on a last second shot!".   WTF???   That dropped a few grape nuts on the stomach and i quickly launched into an extended chat with my AI friend......

I love how I have a right to be frustrated and they are sorry, but.......

Fool me once.....  I quickly identified another error!!  Leading to a follow-up question/remark:

Finally I think I have something that I can work with....  and if you are still with me at this point - kudos to you.