Category Archives: Blog & Guest Posts

Donahue vs. Newbold for Eternal Glory

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The 17th annual Living Room Times men’s NCAA pool is down to a two-way battle between Tim Donahue of Elizabethtown, KY and Abby Newbold of Boston, MA. Donahue, a Louisville alum and huge Cardinals fan, stayed alive (and in first place) because his team lost to its archrival today, just as he predicted. Now he needs the Wildcats to finish… Read more »

Mike Wiser wins NIT pool, ending 11-year drought

After 11 years and 32 tries, Mike Wiser is finally a Living Room Times basketball pool champion. Wiser, a 2003 USC and 2006 Stanford alum and current Michigan State Ph.D. student who has competed in every single LRT pool since he and I were USC sophomores in 2001, clinched victory in the 8th annual NIT Pool when his grad-school alma… Read more »

A whopping 6 still alive in women’s pool; Dan Dinunzio vs. Mike Wiser in NIT pool

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Six contestants are still alive in the 15th annual Living Room Times women’s NCAA pool heading into the Final Four — a new LRT record for any pool, I believe, and just two shy of the theoretical maximum (barring ties) of eight — as all four #1 seeds have advanced to Denver, creating a wide variety of outcomes for a… Read more »

High stakes tonight in women’s pool

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With the Final Four half set, a whopping 12 contestants are still mathematically alive in the Living Room Times women’s NCAA pool. But any one of them could be eliminated tonight. It’s a high-stakes Elite Eight finale! Presently, as you can see on the possible outcomes page, a dozen contestants — Randy Styles (1st in the current standings), Michael Holtsberg… Read more »

Fear! Fire! Foes! Awake!

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A wildfire southwest of Denver is still totally uncontained this morning, one day after it killed one person, destroyed 15 to 25 strucutres, burned more than 3,000 acres, and gave off a huge smoke plume, blown northeastward by galeforce winds, that was impressively well-defined on radar: Another way of viewing that smoke plume is by looking at the brief time-lapse… Read more »

Donahue, Bloxham have perfect Final Fours; now Louisville fan Donahue needs Kentucky to win it all

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Tim Donahue and Zach Bloxham went 4-for-4 in predicting the men’s Final Four of #1 Kentucky, #2 Kansas, #2 Ohio State and #4 Louisville — the first time anyone has picked a perfect Final Four in a Living Room Times men’s pool since 2009, when Matt Scarborough did it. The feat helped Donahue maintain his lead in the pool, and… Read more »

Donahue leads, 10 alive in men’s pool

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With half of the Elite Eight set, Tim Donahue of Louisville, Kentucky has taken the lead in the 17th annual Living Room Times men’s NCAA pool. Donahue, who does not know me personally but found the LRT pools via Facebook last year, is one of three contestants — the others being Zach Bloxham (currently 11th) and Ben Eng (17th) —… Read more »

Palmer, Webster lead turbulent men’s pool; Loyacita has a real shot to win

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The first night of the Sweet Sixteen was a dramatic one in the 17th annual Living Room Times men’s NCAA pool. When the day began, Yvette Webster had the lead. But when Syracuse edged Wisconsin in the night’s first game, Elizabeth Styles took the lead. Webster, who had picked the Badgers, fell to 4th place. However, an hour or so… Read more »

NIT pool whittled down to a Final 3: Lemoine, Dinunzio and Wiser

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The NIT Final Four at Madison Square Garden next Tuesday is set — UMass-Stanford at 7pm Eastern, followed by Minnesota-Washington at 9pm — and the 8th annual Living Room Times NIT Pool is down to a Final 3: Tommy Lemoine of Manchester, NH (a Michigan State alum), Dan Dinunzio of Storrs, CT (a current UConn senior), and Mike Wiser of… Read more »

78 alive in men’s pool, 40 in women’s; NIT pool could be decided tonight

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Heading into the Sweet Sixteen, Yvette Webster of Round Hill, VA, who entered using the “mascot bracket” and stated, “I do not know a thing about basketball & I select by mascots – prefer birds & animals to anything,” leads the 17th annual Living Room Times NCAA Men’s Tournament Pool by a point over long-time blog reader and pool contestant… Read more »