ROUND 1 PAGE
UPDATED March 21, 2026 at 11:20 AM
A gentleman named Tom Carnegie was the
public address announcer at the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway for decades and during an era
when speeds at the Indy 500 increased
dramatically. And anytime a driver set
a new fastest all time lap, his voice would
boom out around the massive speedway with
the declaration… “and it’s a new track
record.”
I wish I could do something similar in
email. I have neither the booming
voice or the eloquence with written word to
properly convey the accomplishment of such a
moment. None the less, we have such a
moment before us now. David
Stubenrauch is leading this pool with 188
points at the end of round one. He is
23 points clear of second place. That
is a massive lead for one round. And
it is because his 188 points is the most
scored in the first round for as far back as
I can find in my tournament records (makes
me consider adding a records page, but that
will have to wait for 2027). Stube, as
his friends call him, got 31 of the 32 games
correct, with his only miss being the Texas
upset of BYU.
I’ll be honest, when I saw his pick of St
Johns as the national champion, I sort of
dismissed his bracket. Now I’m not so
sure. And regardless of what St Johns
does and where Stube ends up in the final
standings, his opening round will remain one
of the best bracket sheets you will sheets
you’ll see anywhere.
Mike King is second. Mike King
is third. Mike King is fourth.
All with 165 points. I just
can’t figure out how that happens. It
is almost like he picked the first round
exactly the same on all three sheets.
It turns out to be a good strategy when you
know what you are doing. It has
positioned him very very well for the rest
of the tourney. I would dare say he is
the favorite at the moment (as I really
don’t have a lot of confidence in St Johns).
Mike King is the top sheet with three of the
most populate champions picks. Those
three sheets are split across Michigan (Dear
Lord, anybody but Xichigan), Arizona and
Duke. Beware the Kingster in the weeks
to come.
Fifth is Jay Robins with 160 points.
That’s it. That’s all I’ve got to say
about Jay. Feels rather
anti-climactic.
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