Obama will release March Madness brackets

[babylonsister]

:shrug: No clue. Basketball-related, I'm guessing.

http://briefingroom.thehill.com/2009/03/13/obama-will-release-march-madness-brackets/


Obama will release March Madness brackets
@ 4:25 pm by Michael O'Brien

President Obama will release his March Madness brackets to the public, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Friday.

"We will, in a transparent White House, release the president's bracket next week," Gibbs said.

Obama, a well known fan of basketball, will have to wait until Sunday like all other Americans to fill out his bracket.

Different conferences are playing their tournaments throughout the weekend to determine which teams will receive an automatic bid to the 65-team NCAA field, and which teams will receive an at-large bid to the tournament.

[skooooo]

1. Thank god for this new administration.

:rofl:

[Cha]

13. I hear ya,

dude:)

[TTUBatfan2008]

2. Wait, you've never heard of this?

Holy cow. You should check it out. It's hilarious. Across the country, people join their coworkers in gambling pools where everyone picks the bracket. There are 64 teams and you pick the winners for each round of the tournament BEFORE the tournament starts. It's exciting stuff because there's always so many upsets in the NCAA tournament that the odds of picking it 100% right are very slim. ESPN and CBS both have contests where you can win a bunch of money for free if you pick the bracket correctly.

[babylonsister]

15. No, I haven't, sorry. I'm not much for basketball.

Now football I watch.

[Grown2Hate]

3. Goddamn! This IS my President!!! : ) NT

[vaberella]

4. I don't get it. n/t

[Grown2Hate]

5. It's the NCAA College Basketball Tournament Championship.

The top sixty four (really 65, with a play-in game) college basketball teams make the tournament and play single elimination games. When the field is announced, people pick who they think will win each game, and so on, and so forth.

[vaberella]

11. Oh...bets on College BB? I understand. Why does the WH participates?! n/t

[TTUBatfan2008]

12. You don't have to bet to participate...

I've never bet on sports in my life, but I still fill out a bracket and keep track of how well I predicted each round of the tournament. If you can come out with more wins than losses, you're doing pretty well! My dad and I usually have a little competition for bragging rights. You can also enter your bracket for free at ESPN or CBS and win a ton of money if you end up with the most accurate predictions of anyone across the country.

[Jennicut]

29. I fill out brackets and never bet. Its just fun to guess.

[hvn_nbr_2]

6. 65-team field?

I thought it was 64. How do they eliminate the extra team when the total number is not a power of 2?

[El Supremo]

7. There is one "play in" game now.

I think it has something to do with the number of conferences.

[Grown2Hate]

8. They have what is essentially a "play-in" game before the tournament,

although they still consider it part of the tournament itself. Basically, the 64th and 65th best teams play each other for the opportunity to be DESTROYED by the #1 team in the tournament in the first round. It has to do with the fact that there was another conference of teams added, so there was necessarily one more "automatic bid" (if you win your conference during the regular season, you automatically make the tournament). Hope that helps!

[Drunken Irishman]

14. Yes, you can thank the Mountain West Conference for that.

Utah, BYU, New Mexico, UNLV, Wyoming, San Diego State, Colorado State and Air Force broke away from the WAC and formed that conference.

[hvn_nbr_2]

16. Thanks.

I never pay much attention to it till it's getting on to the Sweet 16. I guess I've missed that little change for however long it's been happening.

[politicasista]

9. Great. A president that likes and plays sports

rather than exploiting it or using it as desperate photo-ops. :)

[Arkana]

10. This is glorious. Truly glorious.

An era of open government is upon us!

[stevedeshazer]

17. There IS a Goddess!

We basketball nuts rejoice!

[MrPerson]

18. Will there be several brackets or one "bracket of integrity?"

Transparency, man.

[Elidor]

19. This is very clever

Very humanizing. And one for the record books. I wonder how good his picks will be. Freakin' lol!

[Yavin4]

20. The Man Is A Brilliant Politician

Bush had to force being a man of the people because he wasn't and he never was. He was always a preppy playing a cowboy.

Obama is really a man of the people. He does what every office creature does. He plays the NCAA brackets. This connects him with college students, college grads, professionals, non-professionals, and sports enthusiasts.

[elleng]

21. It IS great!

Anyone watching now? No cable here, so all I can do is check news from time to time. I'd like to know how WVU looks vs. Syr, as WVU is down a few (which it hasn't been thus far in the Big East.)

Having a great time, and can't wait for the Big Party (carried by CBS, I think.)

[elleng]

22. from a friend!

Staffers at the White House and the still-active Barack Obama campaign office revealed today that the entire premise of the Obama candidacy and now Presidency has been based on a typographical error. For over two years, Obama followers have had hopes for a better future. Today's revelation was that Obama never intended to give people those "hopes." He intended to give them "hoops."

Reports indicate that today's confession was prompted by the season, popularly called "March Madness."

[snowbear]

23. Our president..

.
.

[Jim Lane]

24. Don't take this to the bank just yet

I wouldn't be surprised if Gibbs was kidding. Releasing a bracket identified as Obama's would tick off the fans of a lot of teams (those who thought he had unfairly dissed their team's prospects).

It's likely that Obama will have a bracket, but it will be sealed up tighter than Cheney's energy committee records.

[adoraz]

31. he released his picks last year

I'm not sure about the whole tournament, but he picked the last couple rounds I believe. I know for a fact he picked the final winner.

Oh, and he had at least one NCAA football tournament pick a couple months ago (forget what it was).


Nobody is going to get offended if Obama picks another team over their own anyways. It is just for fun.

edit- unless you were being sarcastic? I can't really tell.

[Jim Lane]

35. You're right, he did so again this year

No, I wasn't being sarcastic, I just thought most politicians would be too afraid of mindless fan animosity to release such picks. I'm glad i was wrong.

[Lex]

36. President Obama's Final 4: Louisville, UNC, Memphis, Pitt.

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/29743759

[MrPerson]

25. He obviously is trying to do too much.

[RamboLiberal]

26. I'll play his brackets in our $5 office pool if its released in time

I played his brackets last year when they released them during the campaign. He didn't do too well. Hillary was probably distracting him at the time.

I know squat about basketball but I somehow managed to win the office pool the last 2 years. I used this sites ratings. http://kenpom.com/rate.php

[DrToast]

27. A welcome change from Bush invoking executive privilege on his bracket. n/t

*

[Jennicut]

28. I am still sad about UCONN losing to Syracuse in the Big East Tournament

It was like 6 overtimes or something. :cry:
I am not up for the NCAA tournament at all but I am curious as to what Obama's brackets are. maybe he is good at this too.

[DevonRex]

30. Those are my 2 favorite teams back east. It's almost like that was

the championship round. Sigh.

UConn was always my favorite, but then I fell in love with Carmelo Anthony so I decided Syr was okay.

[Jennicut]

33. I actually always liked Jim Boeheim and route for the 'Cuse

when Uconn is not in it.

[eppur_se_muova]

32. Yeah, but he has the NSA to help "background" him. nt

:evilgrin:

[applegrove]

34. Obama is such a good sport.

[Lex]

37. *** President Obama's Final 4: Louisville, UNC, Memphis, Pitt ***

Here ----> http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/29743759

[Condem]

38. Wow! He's going out on the ol limb.

Three #1's and a #2.

[Lex]

40. No, just good sense. Most Final Four teams turn out to be the top seeds

anyway. Not always, but more often than not.

[NightHawk63]

41. The Prez knows his BBall

GO TIGERS!!!:fistbump:

[ellacott]

39. His complete bracket will be revealed today at noon on ESPN

President Obama's Final Four revealed

President Barack Obama kept one campaign promise that should please the college basketball constituency.

After telling ESPN.com's Andy Katz in October that he would fill out an NCAA tournament bracket if he were elected, the president did just that. His complete bracket will be revealed along with the interview with Katz in the White House during the noon ET "SportsCenter" on Wednesday.



President Obama fills out an NCAA tournament bracket with ESPN.com's Andy Katz, left, in the White House.


A few selections were revealed on Tuesday. Initially an underdog for the nation's highest office, the president went with favorites in his Final Four picks. No. 1 seeds Louisville, North Carolina and Pittsburgh will join No. 2 Memphis in Detroit April 4-6 if the president is correct.

Katz had interviewed the president about his brother-in-law, Oregon State basketball coach Craig Robinson.

The president's bracket will be posted on ESPN.com, along with those of millions of fans expected to play in ESPN's Tournament Challenge.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/ncaatourney09/news/story?id=3991183