Not Noah Brier
Ok, it wasn’t quite as big a blowout as UNC over Michigan St., but Noah Brier took care of Russell Davies to win the March Marketing / Social Media Madness competition. It was fun, I hope you enjoyed it and congrats to Noah.
Thanks again to Brian Solis for providing a copy of his book, Putting the Public Back in Public Relations as a prize.
Two hardfought semi-finals this weekend saw Noah Brier take down Sarah Evans and Russell Davies best Jeremy ‘Shoemoney’ Schoemaker to advance to tonight’s Championship game.
When this tournament started I offered a prize to whomever was closest to correctly picking the Final Four. Well, with all the upsets no one got close, so via random selection, the winner is…
I’m guessing that Rich will be rooting for Noah to win it all. After all, he’s got him in his blogroll. What did Rich win? I’m glad you asked. Tell ‘em what he’s won, Johnny…
Rich will receive a copy of the recently published Putting the Public Back in Public Relations by Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge, which Brian so kindly donated. A big thank you to Brian. I’m looking forward to reading it soon and sharing my review with everyone. You can buy the book from Amazon here.
Will it be Evans, Brier, Davies or Schoemaker?
An epic weekend in the tournament has left us with the Final Four:
In a giant-killing #6 Sarah Evans defeated #1 seed Malcolm Gladwell
#10 Mitch Joel was finally ousted by #8 Jeremy Schoemaker
Peter Shankman’s dream tourney came to an end at the hands of Russell Davies.
And Dooce, Heather Armstrong, ran in to the buzzsaw that is Noah Brier.
Evans will take on Schoemaker in one semi-final, with Brier and Davies going head to head in the other.
After huge upsets in Rounds One and Two, the favorites took over when we got to the Sweet 16. The marquee match-up was #1 seed Malcolm Gladwell against #5 Guy Kawasaki. The tournament’s Cinderella, #15 seed Steve Woodruff had a tough opponent in Heather “Dooce” Armstrong. Who would move on? Let’s take a look at the results:
#9 Peter Shankman defeats #13 Bud Caddell
#10 Russell Davies defeats #11 Rick Liebling
#5 Noah Brier defeats #9 Mike Arauz
#3 Heather Armstrong defeats #15 Steve Woodruff
#8 Shoemoney defeats #13 Hugh MacLeod
#10 Mitch Joel defeats #3 Aloha Arleen
#1 Malcolm Gladwell defeats #5 Guy Kawasaki
#6 Sarah Evans defeats #7 Amanda Chapel
This weekend we’ll get it down to the Final Four. Stay tuned.
Here’s an updated bracket catching us up to the Sweet Sixteen. I’ll be doing previews on Tuesday and Wednesday.
From 64 to 16
Let me just state up front that all these results were determined fair and square. You can quibble with the percentages in terms of chances of winning in a particular match, but the results were legit. I didn’t do a ‘best two out of three’ if the outcome wasn’t what I was hoping for. In fact, I don’t even know the the names attached to the seeds when I am rolling the 10-sided D&D dice (and I didn’t roll at all when the game I was in came up – that was done by someone else). Why the big preface? Well, of the eight Sunday games, six were upsets:
#9 Peter Shankman defeats #1 Seth Godin
#13 Bud Caddell defeats #12 Johnny Vulkan
#11 Rick Liebling defeats #3 Gary Vaynerchuk
*Note this match was administered by Jack Liebling
#10 Russell Davies defeats #2 Tom Peters
#3 Heather Armstrong defeats #11 Victoria Fishel
#8 Shoemoney defeats #1 iJustine
#13 Hugh MacLeod defeats #5 Joseph Jaffe
#6 Sarah Evans defeats #14 Darren Rowse
We’ll resume on Thursday with the start of the Sweet Sixteen.
Yesterday we saw some big upsets, but today, the big guns all marched on. That’s not to say there weren’t any upsets.
As a reminder, here is the statistical breakdown I devised:
As you can see, it’s pretty tight. So, it’s understandable that some 3-6 seeds went down today. Here are your Round One, Friday winners:
#1 Seth Godin defeats #16 Lisa Hoffman
#1 iJustine defeats #16 Alan Wolk
#2 Tom Peters defeats #15 Amanda Gravel
#3 Gary Vaynerchuk defeats #14 Steve Rubel
#3 Heather Armstrong defeats #14 DJ Francis
#14 Darren Rowse defeats #3 Todd Defren
#13 Hugh MacLeod defeats #4 Geoff Livingston
#13 Bud Caddell defeats #4 Laura Fitton
#5 Joseph Jaffe defeats #12 Gavin Heaton
#12 Johnnie Vulkan defeats #5 Greg Verdino
#6 Sarah Evans defeats #11 Geno Church
#11 Victoria Fishel defeats #6 Piers Fawkes
#11 Rick Liebling defeats #6 John Moore
Note – the results of this match were not determined by me. An independent third party oversaw that game.
#10 Russell Davies defeats #7 Amber Naslund
#9 Peter Shankman defeats #8 Adam Broitman
#8 Shoemoney defeats #9 Katja Presnal
So, how did the ‘Power Conferences’ do?
I’ll post the Saturday and Sunday results over the weekend. Today’s results were witnessed/administered by Rich Gallagher.
The first eigth games have been played and we have some major upsets. Because the field, all 64 ‘teams,’ was filled with quality talent, a #1 v #16 match-up wasn’t necessarily a foregone conclusion. As a reminder, here is the statistical breakdown I devised:
As you can see, it’s pretty tight. So, without further ado, here are your Round One, Thursday winners:
#16 Jesse Newhart defeats #1 Chris Brogan(!)
#1 Malcolm Gladwell defeats #16 David Mullen
#15 Steve Woodruff defeats #2 Jeremiah Owyang (!)
#2 Brian Solis defeats #15 Jeff Pulver
#2 Ann Handley defeats #15 Doug Haslam
#3 Aloha Arleen defeats #14 Julia Roy
#4 Brian Clark defeats #13 CC Chapman
#4 Scott Monty defeats #13 Chip & Dan Heath
#5 Guy Kawasaki defeats #12 Shannon Paul
#5 Noah Brier defeats #12 Jane Quigley
#6 Peter Kim defeats #11 Rohit Bhargava
#7 Josh Spear defeats #10 Rob Walker
#7 Amanda Chapel defeats #10 Faris Yakob
#10 Mitch Joel defeats #7 Grant McCracken
#9 Mike Arauz defeats #8 Connie Reece
#9 David Armano defeats #8 Pete Cashmore
Two huge upsets with a #1 and a #2 going down on the first day. Overall there were five upsets, which feels about right. Just so you know, all results were witnessed by my colleague and fellow blogger, Rich Gallagher. Come back tomorrow around this time for Friday’s results.
We conclude our pre-tournament previews with a look at the remaining eight Friday games. Check out previews 1 and 2 as well.
#1 iJustine v. #16 Alan Wolk: I think iJustine is going to mozy into the next round.
#3 Todd Defren v. #14 Darren Rowse: I’ve got a funny feeling about this one. I smell an upset.
#3 Heather Armstrong v. #14 DJ Francis: DJ will have to hit the threes to beat the Dooce.
#4 Geoff Livingston v. #13 Hugh MacLeod: If Hugh goes out early, it will leave a Gaping Void in the tourney. No wait, actually it would remove a Gaping Void.
#5 Joseph Jaffe v. #12 Gavin Heaton: Will Jaffe become a Servant of Chaos?
#6 Sarah Evans v. #11 Geno Church: Another one of those deceiving matchups. I like Church in an upset.
#6 Piers Fawkes v. #11 Victoria Fishel: The point guard from The Advance Guard will need some luck to beat the man from PSFK.
#8 Shoemoney v. #9 Katja Presnal: My money is on the shoe.
Be sure to check in later today for early game results.
Let’s take a look at the other eight Thursday games, and eight of the Friday match-ups:
Thursday
#1 Chris Brogan v. #16 Jesse Newhart: Unfair draw for Newhart who could have gone far under different circumstances.
#2 Ann Handley v. #15 Doug Haslam: Clash of the Tewksbury, MA natives! I give this one to the Professor.
#2 Jeremiah Owyang v. #15 Steve Woodruff: Even getting up at Five in the Morning won’t be enough for Woodruff.
#4 Scott Monty v. #13 Chip & Dan Heath: Monty will certainly drive to the hoop, but will the Heath double team be Made to Stick?
#5 Noah Brier v. #12 Jane Quigley: Quigley will need the 64 pack of Crayons to pull of the upset here.
#7 Josh Spear v. #10 Rob Walker: Can Walker avoid the Undercurrent? I’m Buying In to the upset.
#7 Grant McCracken v. #10 Mitch Joel: Battle of the Canadians!
#8 Connie Reece v. #9 Mike Arauz: Another win for Team Undercurrent?
And now, bonus previews of half of the Friday games:
#1 Seth Godin v. #16 Lisa Hoffman: Rooting for Godin is like rooting for Duke. Take that however you like.
#2 Tom Peters v. #15 Amanda Gravel: Peters doesn’t rebuild, he just reloads.
#3 Gary Vaynerchuck v. #14 Steve Rubel: If Gary Vee wins it all, will we douse him with wine instead of champagne?
#4 Laura Fitton v. #13 Bud Caddell: If Bud wins this, he really will be living the dream.
#5 Greg Verdino v. #12 Johnny Vulkan: A Vulkan upset here would be an Anomaly.
#6 John Moore v. #11 Rick Liebling: I’m guessing Moore will be doing an Autopsy on me.
#7 Amber Naslund v. #10 Russell Davies: If it were football (the proper English kind) or cricket maybe. But I’m going with Naslund.
#8 Adam Broitman v. #9 Peter Shankman: I think some reporters may have to help Peter out.
