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Home > Mark Bradley > Archives > 2008 > April > 02 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USFinal Four Fiasco winner a keen observer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Winning the 21st Final Four Fiasco required a bracket of surpassing sagacity, and Joe Thomas of Atlanta surpassed the other 2,741 entrants. Thomas was one of 289 Fiascans — 10.5 percent of all who entered — who picked the four No. 1 seeds to reach the Final Four. (One of them lives under this roof, as we shall see.)
Thomas claimed the coveted sweatshirt on the final tiebreaker — first-round winners. He had 27 of the 32. For the record, he also tabbed seven of the Elite Eight and 12 of the Sweet 16, meaning he nailed 50 of the 60 games.
It wasn’t as if Thomas, who’s 46 and a director of production for a Norcross-based staging company, was flying blind. He has season tickets at Alexander Memorial Coliseum in Section 13, which gives him a fine view of the Georgia Tech bench and enables him to study Paul Hewitt closely as he calls all those extremely effective timeouts. (That’s my little joke, by the way, not our winner’s.)
Thomas attended Tech in the early ’80s “when there was nothing to watch and nobody to watch it,” he said. “Bobby Cremins came just as I was leaving. But I saw [Duke’s Mike] Gminski and [Virginia’s Ralph] Sampson come through. Brooke Steppe was our star back then.”
By virtue of this year’s Tech home schedule, Thomas saw two of his Final Four in person — Kansas in December and North Carolina on a snowy night in January. “I watched us lose both games on the last possession,” he said, and he also had something else working for him: Without the Jackets in the field, he said, “it was easier to pick” — no nagging pangs of loyalty.
“I’m a college basketball fan,” Thomas said, and he has entered Fiascos in the past. Never, however, had he picked the correct Final Four: “The closest I came was the year Tech went [2004].”
He picked the Tar Heels, he said, because “this is the best Carolina team I’ve seen in a long time.” This despite his antipathy toward Tyler Hansbrough: “I don’t really care for him — he whines like a Duke player. It’s hard to watch, especially live and in a close game.”
Thomas picks Carolina to win it all, beating UCLA in the championship game. He likes the Bruins over Memphis in the semifinals because “I’m still convinced free-throw shooting is going to matter.”
As for Davidson: Thomas had the Wildcats winning one game but losing to Georgetown in Round 2. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to pull against that team: “That’s why we watch.”
Had Davidson’s Jason Richards made his last-second 3-pointer Sunday, the Fiasco would surely have had a different winner, and it could well have been the Rev. Jim Aiken of Acworth. In one of those tantalizing “almosts” that have passed into Fiasco lore, Aiken had the Wildcats reaching the Final Four.
“I went to Furman, and I go back to the days when Lefty Driesell was recruiting for Davidson and sleeping in the back of his station wagon,” said Aiken, who is 66 and a Methodist minister. “I remember them playing North Carolina in the [1968 and 1969 East] Regional finals and losing [narrowly both times].”
As he watched the final seconds of the Davidson-Kansas game unfold, Aiken said he “felt good about our chances when [Stephen] Curry had the ball. But then it was taken out of his hands.”
Four decades later, tiny Davidson lost another regional final at the end. Such moments and such stirring stories are indeed why we watch this tournament and why we, hoping against hope, fill out brackets every blessed year. And it’s why I, who identified just three of this Final Four, can take some solace in having raised a brilliant bracketologist.
For the second year running, Elizabeth Bradley, who’s now 10, outpicked her dumb ol’ dad. In only her second try, she was smart enough to go with the four No. 1 seeds. As the Fiasco founder, I’m proud. As her fretting father, I fear the rest of her life will be an anticlimax.
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Comments
By George
April 2, 2008 3:30 PM | Link to this
Thanks again for making March so special around my house. I appreciate your commitment to this thing year after year. While I don’t always agree with what you write, you are a first rate sports writer. Atlanta is lucky to have you.
By tar heel born and bred
April 2, 2008 3:36 PM | Link to this
Is Mr. Thomas watching the same Hansbrough that everybody else is watching? Whining? The guy doesn’t have time to whine—he’s too busy running up and down the court.
By hop
April 2, 2008 4:19 PM | Link to this
hansbrough is one hell of a player and this clown thinks he is a whinner!
go figure, only a tech alum would come up with this “off the wall” comment! of course , lt has been a long time since the jackets have seen a crappy player like hansbrough come along at the flats.
maybe, mark price was the last one to play with this type of determination.
By Rabbi Hutzpah
April 2, 2008 4:37 PM | Link to this
Hansbrough ape is an over-rated hack just like his coach
By steve
April 2, 2008 4:45 PM | Link to this
Congratulations on winning the fiasco. But come on man, how can anyone not like Psycho T? He is an example of what is great about college basketball! He hustles more than anyone on the court, never takes a play off, and works his tail off to improve himself each and every day. He gets the tar (pun intended) beat out of him every night with only a fraction of those fouls actually called. Yet, I have never seen him whine about a call. You must be viewing him through your yellow and black glasses.
By BuckheadBill
April 2, 2008 4:47 PM | Link to this
Okay, so I got carried away with the SEC tournament! I told Jeremy Price that they messed up my bracket.
By Shamrock Shooter
April 2, 2008 4:47 PM | Link to this
I am one of the 289 Fiascans to pick all four finalists, this for the first time in the Fiasco! I am proud of the accomplishment. I have also nailed the womens final four as well, but still trail in our office pool (we combine both brackets for an overall winner) by three points.
I have UCLA and UConn taking the respective titles.
Thanks for the 21st FFF Mark!
By Allen Rice
April 2, 2008 4:59 PM | Link to this
In became a Tar Heel fan in 1957 the Heels beat a highly favored Wilt Chamberlain team. I was at The Georgia Dome when Michael Jordan, a freshman, outlasted Georgetown. I have lived and died with Carolina for more years than I care to admit, but in deference to Mr. Thomas, with the great players that North Carolina has fielded over my lifetime, Tyler Hansbrough is the most committed and competitive athlete to wear the proud Carolina Blue. He is a true role model in this world of prima donna athletes who play one or two years and go for the gold.
By Rabun Dawg
April 2, 2008 5:01 PM | Link to this
Mark, I, like most everyone else probably, had 3 of the 4, thinking that Memphis would be the one out.But, they were awesome in the blowout of Texas, so who knows. Like the man said, that’s why we watch the games. As for Hansbrough, I have nevert seen a player work so hard and hustle like he does, so I don’t understand the comments from your winner. I do not see him whine or complain, he just works his tail off and will not let Carolina lose. He is the best that I have ever seen from a guy who may not be as gifted as some, but he sure leaves it on the floor,night after night.He is a credit to game of college basketball!
By Dandy Darla
April 2, 2008 5:35 PM | Link to this
Well, I guess Memphis just surprised everyone by NOT being the first one out. Go Tigers Go! Don’t be surprised if they don’t go all the way. It was great to win the game in front of the 30,000+ Texas fans.
By Dandy Darla
April 2, 2008 5:36 PM | Link to this
Well, I guess Memphis just surprised everyone by NOT being the first one out. Go Tigers Go! Don’t be surprised if they go all the way. It was great to win the game in front of the 30,000+ Texas fans.
By Dandy Darla
April 2, 2008 5:36 PM | Link to this
Well, I guess Memphis just surprised everyone by NOT being the first one out. Go Tigers Go! Don’t be surprised if they go all the way. It was great to win the game in front of the 30,000+ Texas fans.
By CandlestickMaker
April 2, 2008 6:23 PM | Link to this
The team that lives in the paint will be the champ.
By jill
April 2, 2008 6:24 PM | Link to this
I’m probably the only person who got the men’s and women’s Final Four correct who reads ajc.com. May I receive a prize for that? ;-)
By Drew
April 2, 2008 6:25 PM | Link to this
Tyler Hansbrough is a whiner. That has got to be the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen in print. You blew it big time with that remark.
By azcat225
April 2, 2008 6:45 PM | Link to this
While I would agree that Mr. Thomas is most certainly viewing Hansbrough through yellow and black glasses, all of the other posters who are ready to grant Tyler sainthood are viewing him through their own tinted glasses (some of them obviously Carolina Blue). Over the three years that I’ve watched him play, and admired his tenacity, skill and heart, he has done his share of bellyaching—-no more than most players, but certainly not nearly as much as any Duke player who’s taken to the hardcourt the past 15 years.
I think that’s what has gotten Tyler’s fans’ dander up more than anything—-having him likened to a despised Dookie.
UNC and Memphis in the final, UNC winning by the slimmest of margins, that margin almost certainly provided by Mr. Hansbrough.
Here’s hoping he pulls a Tim Duncan and stays all four years.
By Mark Bradley
April 2, 2008 7:29 PM | Link to this
Thanks for the kind words, folks. And don’t be too hard on Mr. Thomas for his view of Hansbrough: Psycho T is that classic you-love-him-if-he’s-on-your-team-but-hate him-if-he’s-not kind of player. Pete Rose was the same way.
By Bonebreaker
April 2, 2008 8:04 PM | Link to this
I’d like to know who finished last, and who they picked!! That was more of a challenge this year!!
By ugatarheel
April 3, 2008 12:03 AM | Link to this
As it happens I went to that UNC game at Alexander Memorial this year as well. I can tell you that Mr. Thomas is full of it when he says that Tyler whines as much as a Dookie. The only thing that was more evident about Tyler in person is just how d@mn hard this kid plays. I have been watching UNC basketball for close to 30 years and no one who has ever played there worked harder then Tyler, including Michael Jordan. The other thing that was evident that night was that Tech doesn’t have very strong support from it’s fan base. At least 40% of the people at Alexander that night were Carolina fans. If you took the student sections out of the equation it would have been more like 50 to 55% UNC fans to Tech fans. I can assure you that you would never see something like that in Chapel Hill, Durham, or even Clemson. Rather than bashing a player that put up close to 30 points against Tech their fans would do a lot better to actually show up to the games and support their team.
Comparing Tyler to a known sports gambler is also absurd. I like Pete just fine when he was playing, even admired his hustle but the behavior that kept him out of the Hall of Fame to this day, also lost all the respect I had for him. Cal Ripkin might be a better comparison, except that I don’t know anybody that hates Cal Ripkin. And for the life of me I don’t get how anybody could dislike a kid that plays his heart out every single play of every single game every year he has been at Carolina.
By GT4EVER
April 3, 2008 9:57 AM | Link to this
Good Grief! You Tarheel fans are way to serious about a GAME of basketball! He is a VERY GIFTED PLAYER. However, HE WHINES JUST LIKE MOST OF THESE KIDS! GET OVER IT!
Go Jackets!
By Mud?
April 3, 2008 10:04 AM | Link to this
Yes it’s Joe. For the record I think Tyler is, as many say, a great college basketball player (all that matters to me, I don’t care about the NBA). I agree with most of the glowing comments made about his work ethic, etc. I don’t have to like him though- certainly not as a fan of a team that plays his team.
My seats are 30’ from the goal at Alexander Memorial and I have seen what I have seen- live and on television. Watch him fling himself around looking for a foul and go to the crybaby face when the call doesn’t come or when one is actually called against him.
I also understand defending my teams’ players. Tech as a team was painful to watch this season- and I did watch. To the guy who says Tech hasn’t had guys play with such “determination” I don’t have to go further in the past than Jeremis Smith. Maybe not the talent of Tyler but every bit of the heart and effort. It is why I love college basketball.
By squirrel
April 3, 2008 10:59 AM | Link to this
Allen Rice:”I was at The Georgia Dome when Michael Jordan, a freshman, outlasted Georgetown”, So how nice do I have to be and still call BS on this one? Nothing like the facts to get in the way of a good lie………….The Georgia Dome was built in 1990-1991,Michael Jordan was a freshman in 1982, anywhere else you would like to claim to have been? Maybe you were in San Antonio in 68 when Kennedy was shot and you saw everything……..Next!!!
By steve
April 3, 2008 11:51 AM | Link to this
Personally, I don’t think Tyler is one of those players that you love if he is on your team and you hate if he is on the other team. I think if you love college basketball, you ought to love Tyler Hansborough. His passion, work ethic, and obvious dedication ought to be something you cheer no matter what team you root for.
Nobody hates Duke more than me, but they have had players in the past that I one cannot help but admire - Shane Battier, Jeff Capel, etc. Those guys respected the game, worked hard, and played with passion. How could you not respect that?
If you hate Tyler Hansborough just because you do not like UNC, you need to grow up. College basketball (and sports in general) need more Psycho Ts!
By Barbara
April 3, 2008 12:45 PM | Link to this
For God’s sake, this guy is a Tech fan. Therefore, he hates UNC as he does Duke, and I do NOT appreciate him accusing #50 of being a whiner and comparing him, in any way, to a “Puke” player. I’ve never seen him complain on calls being made, and he gets the ever-living s#&% beat out of him every game. Does he complain about that? Nope, nada. This guy may like and know basketball, but his credibility is blown with his statements about #50!
Go Heels, baby!!! They’re the last standing in the ACC, and win or lose, they’re still the best our conference has to offer.
By Barbara
April 3, 2008 12:48 PM | Link to this
BTW, I almost forgot to address Mr. Bradley. Remember folks, he’s a Kentucky guy, so what else would you expect regarding his comments. Yep, sometimes it’s good to be hated.
By jim
April 3, 2008 2:00 PM | Link to this
“Whines like a Duke player.” That’s what really got you Tar Heels, isn’t it? He coulda said anything else and not gotten the same reaction. Hey, I don’t blame you. That would have ticked me off too!
By fildawg
April 3, 2008 2:06 PM | Link to this
So Thomas has tix behind the bench at Tech. Did he get to go see the Dawgs win the SEC tourney?
By allen rice
April 3, 2008 2:48 PM | Link to this
Squirrel is absolute right about the Georgia Dome. I mis-spoke, the tournament was played in New Orleans. It is comforting to know that we have such eloquent people as one who chooses to call himself by the pseudonym “Squirrel.” I don’t have a problem with being corrected for a typo, but to suggest that everything I stated was a lie and that I was BS-ing is a sad commentary from an apparently sad and unhappy person. Go collect some nuts.
By azcat225
April 3, 2008 3:10 PM | Link to this
Barbara, if you’ve NEVER seen Hansbrough complain about a call or non-call, then you’ve been looking the other way on more than once occasion. You (and a few other posters) just prove my point about there being more than one color of tinted glasses.
As far as being compared to a Dookie, I agree—-that was a low blow most foul. As far as complaining, Hansbrough is no better or worse than 95% of college players. As far as talent, drive and heart, he probably has no peer right now.
By Hmmmmm
April 3, 2008 3:10 PM | Link to this
Barbara
Take a breath will ya! Read my lips…. He is a WHINER!
By azcat225
April 3, 2008 3:21 PM | Link to this
One, not once…
By Scoots
April 3, 2008 4:43 PM | Link to this
I’m a UNC fan - have been for life. Pshyco-T Hansborough is my favorite player yet to wear Carolina blue - why? Because the guy truly gives 100% for 40 minutes every time he plays. He plays with a lot of emotion, so yeah he’s going to show how he feels when things go his way. And then on the next play, he’s going to grind it out again. I don’t call that whining - whining is when you see a guy complaining, and then he slumps his shoulders, puts his head down and stops trying.
Another thing - Hansborough takes more hits than anyone else in the nation. The guy is getting brutalized, left and right by 2 or 3 of the biggest guys on defense, and he still scores consistently. So yeah, he might get a little flustered from time to time - you would to if a bunch of 6-10 dudes were bouncing off of you throughout an entire game. But he never gets in their face, he never throws a punch - he doesn’t whine - he just goes down and grabs another rebound.
I seriously don’t know how you can possibly criticize the guy. Seriously
By Scoots
April 3, 2008 4:53 PM | Link to this
meant to say when things *don’t go his way*