It's that time of year again. It's time for the Random Bracket Challenge, now in its fourth year.
Maybe you've had fun voting in our random bracket challenge in the past.
Maybe you voted but didn’t have fun.
Then again, you may have neither voted nor had fun.
Or, you could be like my wife and think the whole thing is kind of dumb.
At any rate, we’re doing it again this year. The committee has been meeting for several weeks to sort through and seed the entries.
After last year’s attempt to move the RBC to Substack was a resounding failure, voting for the event will all take place on Twitter this year. Yeah, I know, it’s X, but I still call it Twitter.
There will be a preview newsletter prior to the start of each round of voting. You don't have to subscribe to receive my newsletters to vote but for crying out loud, why wouldn't you? It remains free.
You’ll be able to find each matchup on Twitter @sportsdr44.
There is a significant change to RBC this year.
In the past the pods were named after local heroes, but the committee sold out and there are corporate sponsors for each of the pods.
Before we get to the pairings, let’s review the past champions.
Random Bracket Challenge I – Mini-donuts
Random Bracket Challenge II – Chili
Random Bracket Challenge III – Minnesota Muskies
As word broke of the committee's initial seeds this afternoon there was immediate grumbling. Some entries thought they were seeded too low. Some thought others were seeded too high. Others wanted to be assigned to a different pod.
All decisions of the committee are final. No questions will be taken at this time. Or ever.
At this point some more ado seems appropriate, but due to time constraints there actually will be no further ado.
The first voting will start on Thursday night with any luck.
You may notice that the committee had a little fun with the 4-5 matchups. I don’t want to question their integrity, but I think they may have taken some liberties like the
Here are the first-round pairings in each of the pods. Listed are the seed number and the contestant.
Hedenquist Motors Pod
1 Jardiance vs. 8 Dark Socks with Shorts
4 Pitbull (singer) vs. 5 Pitbull (dog)
2 Jake from State Farm vs. 7 Minnesota Fillies
3 Fjords vs. 6 Duggar Family
Park Vu Motel Pod
1 Tater Tots vs. 8 Daylight Saving Time
4 Chicago (band) vs. 5 Chicago (city)
2 Lynda Carter vs. 7 LIV Golf
3 Isopropyl Alcohol vs. 6 Zombie Apocalypse
Farmers & Merchants State Bank Pod
1 Patches O’ Houlihan vs. 8 James Buchanan
4 The Monkees vs. 5 Monkeys
2 Signaling Your Turn vs. 7 Handbells
3 Luden’s Cough Drops vs. 6 Bitterroot
Welcome Creamery Pod
1 Snickers vs. 8 Indiana State basketball
4 Texas Hold Em (song) vs. 5 Texas Hold Em (poker)
2 Bagpipes vs. 7 Kate Middleton
3 Beastie Boys vs. 6 Cauliflower Ears