Hopski American Pie

Over on facebook "The Hopski" Group has had a few posts lamenting the demise of entries......best read or sung to the tune of American Pie btw.........

2-time Champion Mark Noferi got things started after Gonzaga's loss led to the demise of two of his then-top 10 entries this year:

I can't remember if I cried
When Gonzaga reached across the line
But something touched me deep inside
The day... my Hopski died.

Then 2015 Champion Kent Holding added.....

And they were singing, “bye bye my NCAA try”
Tried to hack it with my bracket, but it just wouldn’t fly.
Down in Auburn they’d be drinking but the campus is dry,
Singing pass another alkohol-frei, pass another alkohol-frei..

And the Commish had to join in......

A long long Hopski time ago,
I can just remember how,
that Madness used to make me smile, 
And I knew if I could take a chance, 
That those underdogs could make me dance, 
and maybe, I'd be champion for a while...........

but this year makes it 18 years, 
since i've had an entry that delivered, 
bad news each 2nd weekend, 
I almost cannot pick another then........

I can't remember my last real try
Contending up to the final night
Only to be scorched by a Butler slight
The day, the Hopski.........died

So bye, bye, my best Hopski try,
Picked my brackets with no limit but the underdogs went awry
And them good old days seem nothing but lies
Forgotten championships 'til the day i die
No 2nd chances for Bobby and I.....

It was nothing, then it was EVERYTHING!!! We Have A Champion!!!!

With a few minutes left in the final game, it was still a 3 horse race in the Hopski and then once 133 points was surpassed, it was a 2 horse race that went back and forth with finally Ryan Fazio outlasting Kyle Becker (who fell to 11th place - the highest finish from a non-Virginia picking entry!!).  Ultimately - this became the 1st Hopski in 21 years to go to the tiebreaker to decide a Champion and it was I LEFT MY HEART IN UMBC FROM RYAN FAZIO

 I LEFT MY HEART IN UMBC FROM RYAN FAZIO

THE 2019 HOPSKI INTERNATIONAL MARCH MADNESS POOL CHAMPION!!!

Since last year's 3rd place finish, Ryan trekked to The Great Wall of China in order to gain wisdom and insight into the Hopski and it certainly paid off with this year's championship!!!!  Ryan is a 29 year old commodities trader in NYC ("livin' the life").  His Dad (Michael - with a strong 12th place finish this year) and I met on my greatest sports weekend ever in Indy at the 2000 Final Four (sponsored by Arthur Andersen - oh my - R Petty driving school at Indy 500, 3 on 3 tournament that I shot the lights out to win, great seats for the games, chats with John Wooden, etc..........)

Dad Michael Fazio is just there to the right (left in the picture) of Bobby Cremens.  I am then next to Lou Dobbs (ugh - pathetic in the stock car as well!!!).

Back to Ryan.....  "My dad, who is old friends with "The Commish," introduced me to the Hopski many moons ago and we have bonded over the Tourney ever since. Though a die-hard baseball fan and Yankees devotee, I think that March Madness is the best single sporting event in the world--and that the Hopski makes it even better every year. After getting shut out for many years and placing third last year - THIS YEAR'S CHAMPIONSHIP FEELS WELL EARNED AND ALL THE SWEETER FOR IT!!!"

Peter Pell - dominating the Hopski this year through the Elite 8 with 3 entries in the top five and one time with all 3 money spots - falls to second place by virtue of the tiebreaker.  I would have put money on the <134 points going into the final (the Vegas line was 118 btw!) - so a shocker that Peter lost while Virginia won!  Not all is lost though as 2nd place is a great effort, though a few more of those (Peter finished 2nd in 2017) will evoke some Buffalo Bill / Minnesota Viking comparisons!!

  

Peter is a Richmond alum (obviously pays more timely than roommate and fellow alum Mark Iantosca) and lives outside of NYC with his wife and 2 kids (4 and 6).  He's an investment advisor in and plays lots of racquet sports, hockey and golf.  Never played team basketball (did anyone at Richmond do so??), but always been a fan.  Here he is last month surviving first career roller coaster... space mountain.  Little did he know it was merely preparing him for the Hopski Championship roller coaster that he took tonight!!

Taking the 3rd spot (and also evoking Minnesota/Buffalo close but no cigar comparisons after runners-up spots in 2012 and 2009) is Boy Try This from Jack Bell!!  Jack was too distraught over a 1 point loss to contact / respond to the Commish with a recent picture - but The Commish has ample photos of Mr. Bell.........

This one could be from any number of our 13 Oktoberfests together - but I believe it is 2001!!!  Jack still wears that mustard mock turtleneck today (was hoping for a current photo of it!!).  Jack is very active with Nourish Now , a greater Washington DC area getting excess foods to those who need it!!!  Aside from that - he is also now an official sommelier - but still returns to the home of those taste buds in Munich every September for The Fest (what - 28 years now??!!).  Great entry this year Jack - a Hopski Championship still awaits!!

A big shout-out as well to the 2nd Chance Dance Champion - After All These Years I Still Hate Duke - from Julie Grundberg - here seen back in what - 1994? - getting seduced by a cajun at JazzFest!!

Oh my - in an upset (my favorite was Oh, It's Like Salad - mainly because it made me laugh and I just have no idea as to why) - Row, Row, Row Your Boat Into USC, from Sky Kenney has won the Best Entry Name Contest and gets free entry into the 2020 Hopski!!!

I look forward already to the 2020 Hopski Pool (same website, same blog and hopefully a "freed Hopski"!!!) as it is always a great way to get in touch with so many of you!!!

Click here for the Final Pool Standings  

All the best,

Mark

And Then There Were THREE!! (say what.........)

In a potential HOPSKI FIRST, the tiebreaker COULD decide this year's HOPSKI CHAMPION!!!

In the ORANGE CORNER...

we have Pete Pell's Diakite Runner vs I Left My Heart in UMBC from Ryan Fazio!!!  BOTH entries will finish with 202 points IF Virginia can win - leaving it to that "whatever" input on everyone's entry sheet of total points in the Championship Game!!  Peter has < 133 and Ryan > 134.  IF this happens - it will be a Hopski First in 21 years!!!




**on a small side note - also in the Orange Corner - we have an oh so frustrated Boy Try This from long-time Hopski entrant Jack Bell of Washington DC.  Jack is unfortunately looking at a 3rd place Hopski finish should Virginia win the title, JUST ONE POINT OFF OF THE TIE FOR FIRST PLACE.  ARGHHHHHHHHHH! - this section in Mock-Mustard Yellow - we feel for you Jack!!!


In the red corner, alongside the GREAT ONE - ROBERT MONTGOMERY KNIGHT.......

We have The Way of Kings from Kyle Becker looking to take Hopski glory should the Texas Tech Red Raiders take the title!!!

GOOD LUCK TO ALL!!



I have but a single VOTE for Best Entry Name.....CMON - I am taking this year's Hopski off somewhat - but you can still VOTE!!!!  EMAIL ME!!

THE HOPSKI FINAL FOUR!!

AND THEN THERE WERE FOUR........

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Not those four, these four that are fighting for the 2019 Hopski International March Madness Pool Crown:

THE WAY OF KINGS........KYLE BECKER 

FOUNDING MEMBER, ERIC GATES FAN CLUB ..........MATT POWELL

DIAKITE RUNNER...........PETER PELL

I LEFT MY HEART IN UMBC.......RYAN FAZIO

THESE are the real Final Four and similar to the Big Dance (only Tom Izzo has Final Four experience btw), only Ryan Fazio has been in this situation in the past, having finished 3rd in the 2018 Hopski Pool!!  Various combinations will put each of them into the Hopski Throne, but only Ryan has LOCKED UP some Hopski dough and is guaranteed of at least a 2nd place finish as he has two entries in contention right now.  Matt Powell is actually set to break 18 years of Hopski frustration as he has NEVER finished in the Top Ten!!

A big shout out to THREE Hopski entrants that ALL managed to go 8 for 8 on the Elite 8 this year and tie a pool record that had only happened twice in the last 20 years (2007 - Cowboy, Bill Carey & 2009 - Fishin' With the Gators - Mom Hopski - Donna Percy).   THIS year, 3 entries did that - The Way of Kings (Kyle Becker of Portland, an Oregon Duck alum that will soon be grinding out an MBA at Wharton), Gopher Broke (Blaine Rowlette, a 2000 Hopski Champion, formerly a long-time Warsaw expat (amongst other stops in Europe) now back home in Minneapolis and enjoying the Final Four this weekend) and Oh, It's Like Salad (Jeff Chamberlin, a 2014 Hopski Champion and BCU alum that had a few formative Hopski years in Warsaw in the 90s - now in DC).  Impressive!!!

After a Spring Break delay the website is updated fully now.  Apologies but there was just not a workaround this year (TurboTourney has still not gone cloud!!).

A quick stats update for 2019 as an added bonus........

Certainly a BIG spike in the # of Sweet 16 picks this year (11.5 - overshadowed only by 2009's 11.8) but 2019 swung back to a below normal year as we hit the Final Four - with only .8 teams picked correctly on average!!  Underdog points though are quite strong this year - 25.8!!  That is 3rd highest in Hopski history.

Ironically, in a year of BIG scoring in the Sweet 16, Hey Man, What's the Deal? (Wes Maciejewski, the former expat Mayor of Warsaw in the early '90s and now crazy busy Chicago suburban dad) managed to pick just 3, breaking a long-standing Hopski record of just 4 that had been held by 5 entrants over the years!!  I must say - I talked Wes out of picking Seton Hall to win it all this year or it may have been worse!!  As it is, Wes has wrapped up the 2019 Hopski Toilet Bowl victory (taking the title from The Commish)!!  You da man Wes!!

In terms of other historical feats, Ryan's "I Left My Heart in UMBC" entry has a chance to break the All-Time Hopski Scoring Record of 215, held by This sheet = the audacity of hope (Joe Drozdowski) set in 2009!!

Here is the complete rundown of Hopski Records:

A MORE IMPORTANT record has been set this year as we had 42 of our 141 entrants make a direct donation to Great Lakes Outreach - leaving me to foot their Hopski Entry Fee bill.  Those donations totaled $2,507, another $685 came from the $5 for all other donations AND an anonymous entrant matched my $1,050 for Hopski Entry Fee bills - giving us a grand total of $4,242 raised for Burundi and GLO this year!!!  THANKS!!!

Enjoy the games - I must run!!