Congrats to our big winner!

Well, it was a great tournament. Thanks everyone for submitting a bracket. The big winner was Haley. Only two people picked Emperor Palpatine to win it all and with most people not having a single hero/villain in the final four, it was more than enough to win our prize. Prize? Did you say prize? I certainly did. And what did Haley win this year?

Well... It's a replica of the actual Final Fantasy Four Cup!!!!!!

Haley will be drinking in style all year long. This is a replica of the actual cup Emperor Palpatine is currently drinking out of. (The big difference is that he is most likely drinking the blood or an ewok.)

Great Job Haley! See you next year!

A Sith-uation to Celebrate!!

Say bye-bye rebels!! The Sith shall rule the galaxy this year. Emperor Palpatine easily sent Trinity to a grizzly doom last night to seal up the Fantasy Final Four Championship. Trinity failed to land a single scorpion kick and was shooting blanks most of the night. She also couldn't score in the paint. Not because of the Emperor's size or defense, but because Trinity shot the ball like she was shooting at an agent.

The Emperor himself certainly did not shine, but he was able to hold it together well enough to get the win. Once he realized the refs weren't calling fouls underneath, he unleashed the fury and dominated. "I knew I didn't have my best stuff," panted the Lord of the Sith immediately after the game,"but I just let the dark side guide me and take me ALL THE WAY! Boo-yah!!"

No word on what line up changes will be made for next year, but Emperor Palpatine did hint at the construction of a new, secret weapon even more powerful than the Death Star. We'll just have to wait and see what happens in the 2011-2012 season!

Trinity is Back Again, But Why?

VS

Road Runner is the only superhero in the Universe who has beaten the two that will play Monday night for the title this season. His deceptive and speedy strategy walloped Trinity 88-73 way back in mid-November. On the other side, he was 2-1 against Emperor Palpatine, beating the Sith twice in the regular season and losing to him in the conference tournament championship game. We thought who better to ask for a scouting report on THE game? "I think Trinity will win the game, and it won't be at the buzzer," Road Runner said Sunday, reached by teleport. "It'll be by seven or eight points." After watching the national semifinals Saturday night, Road Runner sees fatigue as the biggest factor in the Trinity’s favor. "My observation is that the Emperor is tired right now," he said. "He is worn out. Period. I think Trinity is the winner because of it." Palpatine made a rare admission of fatigue after he defeated Magneto on Saturday. It's certainly understandable when facing a powerful mutant with the ability to generate and control magnetism. We get tired just describing his powers, let alone having to deflect barrages of flying nails and steel beams on the court. The Dark Side carried the Emperor through his remarkable five-games-in-five-days conference tourney run, and he has remained the leader, winning five more games in the last 16 days. My observation is that the Emperor is a tired villain going into this game. He is used to giving orders to his bench players, Darth Maul and Darth Vader and won’t be able to hold up on his own. --Road Runner The Emperor himself admitted that it was "a hard 40 minutes" against that “metal wielding machine (Magneto).” Not only was Magneto’s defense intense and physical, but there were long stretches of uninterrupted battles in the second half. Trinity, by contrast, controlled her semifinal game for the most part against the Killer Bunny. "I said before the games Saturday, if one of those two teams has an easy game and the other has a war, the winner of the easy game will win the national championship," Road Runner said. He also thought the Emperor’s holding Magneto to 55 points was more a matter of the magnetic mutant missing good shots than the Sith playing great defense. Although Road Runner dominated his matchup with Trinity earlier in the year, there were extenuating circumstances. The Road Runner was premiering his brand-new ACME dynamite with that game, and Trinity was reportedly distracted due to once again having to save her boyfriend Neo from bad acting and swallowing too many red pills. Road Runner was unranked, while Trinity had a spot in the top 25 and had been celebrated all offseason for her national runner-up finish in 2010. "She [Trinity] had a whole offseason of pats on the back from last year’s tourney," coach Lawrence Fishburne said. "We thought we were preparing really well and we got blasted. I think I learned a lot that game about just how hard this target is going to be." And The Road Runner proved to be a bad-a%@ target. "All this is the norm now," Road Runner said. "I was surprised that Superman and Yoda didn't get [to the Final Four], but I think this will be the norm every year. It's Romulan roulette every year. A Trinity win would be a great thing for the superhero community.”

So far, winners and losers. . .

Contrary to what the worlds dorks, geeks and fanboys argue, it takes more than one shining moment for a superhero to advance far in the Fantasy Final Four tournament. Which is why those king-for-a-day players are now spectating as the Big Dance streamlines from 68 teams to 16.

There has been enough mis-cast spells, malfuntioning grapling hooks and unpredictable blood-thirsty rabbits for even the most casual and jaded fans to be sucked in once again by this event's allure. Will there be more? You ask. Most defninitely, as we whittle down to the final 16. But before dismissing eight more teams Thursday and Friday, let's sort out the winners and losers to this point:

Winner: The Phoenix. The bracket gods are smiling down on Jean Grey as the 1st seeded Phoenix Force in the Southwest Region. She has accrued the most-favored-program status by sweeping seeds 2 through 9 out of their path in the Southwest Region. Joined in Neverland by the three double-digit dwarves: No. 10 Shrek, No. 11 Killer Rabbit and No. 12 Rambo. The combined seeding of the group is 34, tying it for the weakest regional quartet since the field was expanded to 64 teams in 1985. The only thing comparable was the 1986 East Region, when No. 1 Luke Skywalker was joined by No. 12 She-Ra, No. 14 Clifford the Big Red Dog and No. 7 Billy Idol. For what it's worth, Skywalker won his two games in the PacMan Maze that year by a combined 28 points. Unless one of the dwarves pulls a James Bond, we'll see The Phoenix on Planet Melmac. The question is whether she will even break a sweat getting there.

Loser: The Animal Conference. A record 13 teams entered the field of 68. Just two remain. It must be mentioned that two of the nine that have been dismissed were beaten by fellow Animal Conference members, but the performance has still been well below expectations. The big culprits: The Road Runner, Wolverine and the Velociraptors, all of which were granted four, five and six seeds but lost to teams seeded eighth or lower. If Godzilla or the Killer Rabbit make the Fantasy Final Four, that will enhance the Animal Conference's body of work for this tourney, but right now that body resembles Slimer's after a big helping of Peter Venkman's trash.

Winner: Sweaty bandanas, big curvy knives, shaken martinis and PP7 pistols. Not exactly the most attractive or flavourful assets, they nevertheless have produced as many Sweet 16 teams as the Animal Conference in James Bond and Rambo. One (Rambo) was a widely criticized at-large selection, the other (James Bond) might have had to win his conference tournament to make the field (which includes players such as Jason Bourne, Magnum P.I., and Jack Bauer). They've both come a long way in a hurry to this historic spot. Rambo is in his first Sweet 16, and 007 his first since 1988.

Loser: Superpower IQ. There have been a lot of great plays, but an amazing number of dumb ones as well. From the epic brainlock at the end of Trinity-Superman to the unneeded Road Runner timeout against Gozer the Gozerian to Buffy the Vampire Slayer's halfcourt shot with three seconds left against Neo to a misplaced whip and hat the whole second half of Indiana Jones-Captain Planet, this tourney has not had many poise Hall of Superhero Fame moments.

Superman Screws It Up Again, Business as Usual

Superman put together a season for the ages. Not only did he win the conference regular season title and earn a No. 1 seed, he was placed into the Southeast Region with a No. 2 seed in Zeus that had been crushed in the Greek God Conference Championship Game, a No. 3 seed in Link who was a shadow of himself without Princess Zelda and a No. 4 seed in Wonder Woman that had lost her last game big to She-Ra.

Certainly, this was the year Superman broke through. Right?



While sometimes referred to less than flatteringly as "the big blue Boy Scout" by some of his fellow superheroes, Superman has also been called "The Man of Steel", "The Man of Tomorrow", and "The Last Son of Krypton" over the years. On Saturday, he was mild mannered, largely passive with conservative shot choices and proved weak on the boards.

Superman believers are once again telling themselves the empty refrain of “Wait ‘til next year” for the 70th year in a row, some are even calling it "The Curse of the Billy Goat, Too."

Hoops Hysteria!! get to know the sweet sixteen

Killer rabbit (11)
The 11th-seeded Killer Rabbit stunned No. 3 seed He-Man with a decisive win Sunday night. Some reported that He-Man soiled his armour he was so scared. With a few days off before her Sweet 16 matchup with Shrek, this Oryctolagus cuniculus is excited to continue a run as a newly minted star. This is obviously not just a “harmless little bunny.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcxKIJTb3Hg


Shrek (10)
For the best Autobot team in decades, Sunday's season-ending loss to the Green Machine came all too soon. Stifling defense and surprising offense helped Shrek sour a winning season for Cybertron player of the year Optimus Prime and the Autobots. This big, strong, solitude-loving, intimidating ogre is making a stink, showing there’s more to this game than just defense and bad hygiene. This pain-train isn’t slowing for anyone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSFt2SyVXF4

Pure Evil vs Pure Good

Emperor Palpatine vs. Santa

The Emperor rolled in his first game on Thursday and is showing no signs of slowing down. In fact, he may just now be hitting his prime. With the rebels almost completely wiped out, his apprentice wreaking havok in another region, and a new, more powerful Death Star almost completed, everything seems to be going the way of the Sith. He can now focus on destroying Santa Claus, who he has beaten already once this season up at the North Pole. First, beat Santa, second, turn Luke Skywalker to the darkside. Nothing can go wrong, right?

The one-two punch of Santa and Rudolph has been the corner stone of this offense all year. Using the same speed to deliver toys around the world in one night, these two forsty forwards deliver loads of Christmas cheer to their fans. Coaches concerns about Santa's midseason diet of cookies and milk seem to be legitimate as the big fella has missed several dunks because of a decreased vertical.

The Battle of the Baddies!

Match Up to Watch - Friday, March 18

Voldemort vs. Bowser

An offensive powerhouse "He Who Must Not Be Named" may have to go by "He Who Must Play Some Defense." The pressure is high for this once legendary wizard to get back to the Fantasy Final Four for the first time since 2003. Loaded with plenty of weapons, criticism is mounting against Voldemort's defense which has been called "lazy" and "uninspired." Offense alone won't be enough to get Death Eaters everywhere to be looking for the glowing skull in the sky that says Voldemort has done it again!

Historically surrounded by incompetent Koopas and Goombas, Bowser has finally found himself a supporting cast that might just bring a championship home to his castle. Diggas and Big Boos now patrol the paint and the legendary Hammer Bros can play lock down defense. As long as the team can get past the allegations of PEM's (performance enhancing mushrooms), this should be a whole new ballgame.

Yesterday's Recap

(Acme Press) Gozer the Gozerian was not overwhelmed by the bright lights and crowds that accompanied his first trip to earth in 20 years. Gozer, a 13 seed started out hot and didn't fold underpressure when Road Runner the 4 seed made his move late in the second half. Speaking through an interpreter Road Runner said "that gate keeper, key master defense is something I've never seen before. It's from another planet." Gozer will go on to play Rambo in the second round who drew first blood in his battle against T1000.

Crazy? vs. CRAZY!!!

(1) The Phoenix

Charles Xavier's crew is led by a pair of bona fide stars, Jean Grey and The Phoenix Force, who complement each other perfectly. When Jean’s shooting is good, the buckets drop at an incalculable level, allowing her to rearrange matter at a subatomic level, fly unaided through space, survive in any atmosphere, manipulate electromagnetic and cosmic energies for various effects, and drain 3’s all night long. In addition, the Phoenix really came on during Big Ten play, helping to win the turnover battle in nearly every game due to sheer awesomness.

(16) Charlie Sheen

Duh, winning! Making his first appearance since 1995, this unstable, yet popular player is rather pedestrian offensively, but might make things tough on opponents at the other end. He is second in the nation in field goal percentage defense due to his unpredictability and quick-to-sue attitude. Questions about Charlie’s dedication to The Dance have arisen due to the documentary being filmed, “Charlie Sheen:On the Brink”, narrate his crazy (literally) life. He is hoping to give his two neglected children their first tourney win.