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.

  

It Is Done........ Round 1

Yes indeed March Madness Round 1 is done, but more importantly, twas a beautiful morning today in Sitges....

Beautiful more so as the the Hopski Spanish HQ has been repurchased, successfully Reversing the Curse!!  

Much as the trade of the Bambino haunted the Sox so many years, the sale of the Sitges HQ in 2019 has haunted the Commish, with no top 10 Hopski finishes since!  Oh yeah - there was that other haunting by my better half - but that is all done now (for atleast a few days anyway!).....

Because as my wife wrote yesterday - WE ARE BACK BABY!!!!!

THUS, ON TO THE LEADERBOARD!!!

Taking the top of the leaderboard is Taco Trader (The 2013 Hopski Champion David Miller of Muscle Shoals, Alabama), picking 28 out of 32 first round winners, including the big upset points from High Point and VCU!

Kudos as well to Bay area residents in a tie for 2nd - The Portal Did This To Me (Jacob Kivett, a Palo Alto Dad and friend as well as a Florida alum - yeah - pretty much "A Florida Man" himself!  Also took 2nd in the 2018 Hopski) alongside Wish I Was in Sitges (Jay Baum the 2012 Hopski Champion).

A SPECIAL SHOUT OUT is due to 2024 Hopski Champion and Menlo Park resident Mark Iantosca - one that is impossible to overlook (well unless you don't look all the way to the bottom of the standings report!).  Talk about a slow start out of the gates, as not just one but both of his entries are at the bottom of the standings in 140th and 141st place (Qhubert- great creativity - love this one Mark! and The Russian Judge)!!!

Gotta run for now and this will likely be the lasts update until I get out of Sitges on Tuesday morning, as quite a few things to deal with here (like what the heck are we doing with this place for the next 4 years and oh - btw - anyone want to take a year or two sabatical?).  

So most likely the next update will be from the flight home or Wednesday after some pickleball.

Get your entry fees paid and enjoy the Madness!

The Commish

Spanish Madness

Home Sweet Home Sitges, Spain! 

The Commish is coming to you live from Sitges, Spain, Home of the Hopski HQ for the 2005 - 2017 period.  This is no vacation but the culmination of a Quest to re-acquire the Hopski Homestead which you can zoom and see in the distance of the above pic, which was shot from our hotel balcony.  Provided all goes well with Friday's closing, this year's 1st Round Hopski u\Update will come to you live from the old Hopski HQ   

Right now though, it is hard to feel any level of March Madness here whilst finalizing things with notaries, banks and the seller, but hopefully I will be able to find some time to catch some of the games starting Thursday.

Meanwhile - GET YOUR ENTRIES (AND PAYMENTS) IN FOR THIS YEAR'S 27TH ANNUAL HOPSKI INTERNATIONAL MARCH MADNESS POOL and do feel free to pass the invite via this link below on to other worthy participants!

https://sm.app.splashsports.com/contest/?jCode=d745a9cdff5445a893b3aa22da96dadd

Saludos Cordiales -

Your Commish

27th Annual Hopski International March Madness Pools is ALIVE!!!

I am 5 hours from take-off to Barcelona - so this is short and sweet!!!

QUICK UPDATE HERE RE RULES, ETC....:

Welcome to the 27th Annual Hopski International March Madness Pool!

FOR ALL LATEST UPDATES - https://thehopski.blogspot.com/   You should also receive these automatically by email via mailchimp - but just in case.

Splash Sports has bought RunYourPool - but same set-up as last year in terms of hosting the Hopski this year.  

Thus, for any returning entrants, just use your same login and password from last year to enter this year’s pool.  If you've forgotten your login information, use the 'Forgot username or password' link in the login area (e.g. don’t contact me!).  DEFINITELY come up with a NEW ENTRY NAME as this keeps the Hopski colorful AND YOUR WILL AVOID PUBLIC HARASSMENT BY THE COMMISH!

A Heads Up from a longtime Hopski Participant that already went to sign-up/sign-in at Splash Sports (thanks Scott Iantosca - clearly the best of that bunch!) - "Just a heads up so everyone doesn’t get mad, the app apparently got bought by “splash sports” so everyone’s same password works, but you do have to download splash sports. Not a big deal. Everything is still there from last year, I think it just needs to be reactivated.  Shouldn’t be an issue for anyone."

For new entrants - give them this link for the pool:

https://sm.app.splashsports.com/contest/?jCode=d745a9cdff5445a893b3aa22da96dadd

The pool ID is:  226932

The points and underdog points (when you pick the lower seed to advance - you get the point differential) are as they have always been!!  Enjoy the Madness!!

The entry fee remains at $30!!  Payment via venmo (@Mark-Hopper-27) or zelle (3175233988).  NO PAYPAL THIS YEAR.

More importantly, in our ongoing effort to keep this time of year societal productive, we will stick with $5 going to Ukrainian relief fund given the ongoing issues there and the ties that the Commish, our family and many Hopski entrants have to the region.  These fees will go to POLISH HUMANITARIAN ACTION (https://www.pah.org.pl/en) a relief charity that is supporting Ukrainian refugees.  In this respect, if the $5 seems paltry - GREAT!!  Click the above link and donate directly to PHA OR donate to YOUR favorite Ukrainian support charity and send me the receipt by email.  For new donations of at least $100, I will cover your Hopski entry.  Nothing like a bit of ingenuity towards making your Hopski participation tax deductible!!!

This link to PAH for donating may work best:  https://www.pah.org.pl/en/donate/

A brief reminder: Get your bracket(s) in before the pick deadline and make sure to review the pool settings for scoring and tiebreakers. Only the main 64 teams that make up a standard bracket are included (i.e. the play-in games, or 'first four', are NOT included).  

If you have any questions, please contact me at markhopski@yahoo.com.

— The Commish

2026 Hopskis IS HAPPENING!

Same website as last year.  Traveling home now from Pismo Beach bball tourney and flying to BCN tonight.  Will get it going - have no fear!!!!!

2025 Hopski International March Madness Pool BEST ENTRY NAME!

 

The entire Hopski Pool has been emailing me these last 24 hours with THAT EXACT REQUEST!

Thus, without further adieu....

THE 2025 HOPSKI BEST ENTRY NAME IS......

WHOOMP! (DIARRA IT IS)

Based upon the smash hit from Tag Team

Coupled with a shout out to UConn basketball's Hassan Diarra.  Congrats Justin Lockhart - you receive FREE entry for the 2026 Hopski!

Runner-up by a single vote goes to Broome Shaka Laka from Peter Pell, most famously for many of us from the 80s movie Stripes....

But also in Wolf of Wall Street....

2nd runner-up goes to In Goes Bourbon, Out Comes Wisdom (THE Matt Powell)

THE HOPSKI HALL OF FAME FOR BEST ENTRY NAMES:

And The Winner Is............

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2025 HOPSKI INTERNATIONAL MARCH MADNESS POOL CHAMPION......

BRETT MEYERS

To-The Alamo-For a Schwinn & Hopski win!

Brett nabbed his first Hopski podium finish as the 2025 Champion and in the process denied Tangled Up in Nofe's Mark Noferi an undeniable argument for being the Hopski GOAT with a 3rd title by virtue of Florida's come from behind victory over the Houston Cougars last night!

When reached at Nourish Now HQ - Brett said "I am in a little shock that I won’t the Hopski! I picked the Gators because Walton Clayton Jr. kept improving throughout the season and I thought with a young, upcoming coach, they had a real shot at cutting down the nets.  With some of the Hopski 1st place prize money, I am going to buy myself a Gators hat and take my daughter Azure out to Ruth Chris for dinner!"

Our 2025 Hopski Runner-Up is Hook'em Hoss from Michael Hoss

That is Mike on the left of Valvano (some UM guy photo bombing) with the Commish on the right as we attended the 1991 Final Four in Minneapolis (Ted Valentine - we still hate thee for robbing The General of a 4th Championship).

Mike is a longtime Hopski entrant and also a 1989 audit hiree of Arthur Andersen in Chicago - where we worked hard, played hard and loved the Cubbies.  Mike is a St. Thomas (MN) graduate now residing in The Woodlands, TX and working for Repsol (viva Espana!!!).

Nabbing the final podium spot in 2025 is A-Train from Aaron Weller!  

A-Train is actually Aaron's nickname from our IU days (and maybe before).  A-Train is a 1988 Indiana graduate and was as good of a baller as any non-scholarship player at IU in the late 80s and probably better than a few that had scholarships!  Aaron lives in Salem, IN and is a VP at First Savings Bank.  He regularly takes money off of myself and a few other IU friends in our fantasy football league.

44 entries picked Florida as Champion (the most picked team this year).

The worst finish by an entrant picking Florida was 80th place for I Got DOGEd from Julie Grundberg

3 entries picked a pool high 52 of 65 games (82.5%) correctly, including our Champion as well as 26th place DOGE Slashed My Picks (Joe Seib) and 30th place Friends Don't Let Friends Drive & Dunk (Justin Lockhart)

Toilet Bowl Runner-up Aaron Jackson's AarUpThere was the only entry to pick the total points in the Championship Game exactly at 128 (no bonus points for that one unfortunately!)

Speaking of the TOILET BOWL....

This will go down as a record not meant to be broken and possibly a record of equal talent to that of Ryan Fazio's back to back Hopski Championships in 2019 and 2021 as Bay Area's own Amy Kenney and Niparoo 10 has REPEATED as HOPSKI TOILET BOWL CHAMPION!  

Hopski HQ, despite repeated attempts, has been unable to reach Amy regarding this Hopski Hall of Fame triumph, but we look forward to her return in 2026!

That's a wrap for today/tonight....  trying to get this out in time for everyone's Tuesday morning mailbox review!

Thanks to all for joining this Hopski this year and yes - of course - 2026 - same bat time, same bat channel (probably!!).

Adios -  The Commish