The Queen is Crowned!!

Mary Beck "Make Indiana Great Again!" didn't choose either of these guys.........

But she did choose THIS team in 2017..........

THAT CHOICE was the RIGHT one and makes her the 2017 Hopski International March Madness Pool Champion!!!!!  Congratulations Mary!!!  It appears that the 13 years of basketball knowledge diffusion (married Robbie Beck in 2004) has resulted in a Hopski winner - the 1st Beck to ever do so!!!!

When contacted in Stamford, CT.........Mary had this to say on her victory:  "I feel the way I did after beating Rob at a game of H-O-R-S-E again.  Winning the Hopski gives new meaning to the phrase “One Shining Moment”.  I’d like to thank the Academy, Kirk Willoughby for reminding me to enter, and Lance Gitlin for sitting patiently at five minutes before tip-off while I filled out this magical bracket before continuing our meeting.  Please tithe 1/3 of the pot for Biking for Burundi and send the rest to me secretly to avoid Rob spending it."

Handled like a true Champion!!!!!  Congratulations Mary!!!!

Angelo Iantosca "Throwback" has taken the loss in stride and will likely be reminded repeatedly by Victoria that "I SAID HEELS, GRANDPA!!!!  NOT ZAGS!!!"

The Hopski Silver Medal (well - 2nd most $$$$ at least) goes to I JoSharted from rookie Peter Pell of NYC!!  Peter confirmed this was a renewal of his "athletic" career after it previously apexed at Richmond U with his eleborately choreographed celebration rituals for Lamba Chi's Green Machine hoops squad.  He owes his success in the Hopski to his part Herb Brooks, part Hannibal Lector approach, combining motivation with destruction of morale!  Here's a pic of Peter at the end of his career season with the Bedford Rockets:

After contending the entire tournament, Cheeto-in-Chief from Dylan McGuill slips to 3rd but still takes home some Hopski Money.  A huge Pearl Jam fan (has been to 78 live shows), he credits his 3rd place prowess to picks learned from playing Jeremy from PJ 10 album backwards (that an Uncle Mark's advice!).  Here's a pic of him enjoying PJ at Wrigley!!

A special shout-out to the defending champion from 2016, The Champ is Heeeeeeereeee and David Iantosca who finished in 4th place.  This is the best effort to defend a crowd by any Hopski Champion and it fell just short of the podium!!  Still a great effort though!

The 2nd Chance Dance Championship goes all the West to Hawaii and Hacking My Way to the Championship from Mike Ching!!  Well learned from those 1st two rounds Mike!!! (Genty would not send me any compromising photos unfortunately!)

Another year in the books and I cannot imagine what it will be like in 2018 given our pending move.  Stopping at 19 years seems a bit odd though - so save the Hopski bookmark as the pool will be hosted at that same site likely.  If you find yourself in Barcelona before June 28 - don't call as it is going to be a madhouse between now and then getting out of here.  Do give a ring if you out in Palo Alto sometime in the fall as hopefully we will be enjoying life out there.

Lastly - spread the word about Burundi - it needs the world's attention!!!

Pre-Championship Update - It All Sorts Itself in the End

We are down to the Championship between 2 #1 seeds but the road getting here this year was far from predictable, resulting in just a 58.5% pick % for the Hopski and the 3rd lowest correct picks for the Elite 8 and Final 4 ever in a Hopski.  We are left with two contendahs now for the title......

In the baby blue corner backing North Carolina, we have Make Indiana Great Again from Mary Beck of Stamford, CT, a Cornell graduate that has rocketed up the charts with MLB and MLB Network and somehow along the way adopted, errr, married my college roommate and Best Man Robert Beck, this gal has energy galore and should not be underestimated in the post......

And the challenger, in the red corner and backing the Bulldogs of Gonzaga, we have the Throwback entry of Angelo Iantosca, #1 our hearts and #14 in your programs, who played under Jimmy Valvano while at Rutgers and is now living in Hinsdale, IL running Rana Pasta USA and infamously known in Warsaw, Indiana, Spain and other parts of the world as the father of the Brothers Iantosca (including THE ONLY ENTRANT NOT YET HAVING PAID THIS YEAR'S ENTRY FEE - NONE OTHER THAN THE "GOOD MARK")  Angelo, oh Angelo - where did you go wrong with that boy??!!

vs


It is all down to this and it is all or nothing - loser goes home with no Hopski dough!!!

The battle for 2nd place also has an Iantosca connection as Lonzo Ball Soup and I JoSharted - BOTH from Peter Pell who was a roommate at Richmond of Mark Iantosca's (yes - that one that STILL has not paid) and now is based in NYC as a MD at CSM Capital Corp.  It will be a big choice for the Commissioner as to who will cover this shortfall - Daddy or Peter!!!  Peter is looking like the sure thing as in a Hopski First - he has locked up 2nd place with one of these two entries as they are in 3rd and 4th spots right now and with one having the Zags and the other the Heels, Peter will have one in 2nd place when the dust settles tonight!!

Battling it out for 3rd place tonight are Cheeto-in-Chief (Dylan McGuill, the Iowa Hawkeye now out of Dallas and the nephew of "Uncle Mark" Conlon - our 2006 Hopski Champion) and The Inaugural LaVar Ball 1 on 1 Invitational entry of Scott Hoagland, an Illinois State alum now in Atlanta and also the 2001 Hopski Champion and a perennial contender for the Best Entry Name competition (2 time winner!).

The 2nd Chance Dance has a two way battle for Champion as well between good friends Hacking My Way to the Championship (Mike Ching of Hawaii) and Protest This! from Ron Genty - ex-Budi Big Dawg and E&Y partner now living in Chicago.  These two are long-time friends that will certainly enjoy trash talking this outcome!  Don't worry Ron - if you win - I already know what photo I am posting!!!

TODAY is your last chance to drop an email and vote for your favorite entry name!!

There is NO DEADLINE on sharing my Burundi Blog or making a donation though - so keep it in mind!!!

All the best-

The Commish

Biking for Burundi - GIVE this 5 MINUTES - OK?!

Believe it or not, in the last 3 years Burundi has gotten worse!  Yes, when I first introduced the Hopski to Great Lakes Outreach and Simon Guillebaud, GLO's leader, Burundi was just the 2nd poorest and 3rd hungriest (and probably a heck of a lot happier).  Thanks to their President that refuses to leave office, things are worse.....the economy has come to a virtual stop and they are on the brink of famine.

I am again cycling this year with Simon and others to raise money and awareness for GLO and its 10 projects in Burundi - projects ranging from cows and milk to street kids, orphanages and the top secondary school in the country.  At the end of May (no, this is not the last time you'll be hearing from me probably!) we will go to Rwanda and ride 450 miles while climbing nearly 50,000 feet in elevation.  Rwanda this year as Burundi is not safe enough - THAT is how bad things are getting.

This is A BIG HOPSKI PLEASE for spreading awareness (share my blog or email me and post the above poster at your work, school, church, whatever.......) and/or considering a donation.  $5, $25 or more - the more donations in numbers the better!  It is meaningful to our project leaders and other friends in Burundi not just our amounts, but the fact that more and more people are taking notice of and not forgetting Burundi.  You'll spend my money as well as I am matching all donations.

CLICK TO DONATE:  DONATE NOW!!

 

Thanks - very much!

The Commish