Dan Goldman further cemented his ALACS legacy by winning the 2009 March Madness Pool – the first event of the 2009 ALACS – on Monday night. Goldman, who won the PGA Majors Game and Fantasy Baseball in the inaugural year of the ALACS, prevailed on the strength of a simply dominating performance from the North Carolina Tar Heels – and was so confident in his bracket that he didn’t bother to fill out a second submission, a surprising decision for someone who has played in every ALACS game to date and is known to be a student of both implied odds and the amount of luck that it takes to win a March Madness Pool comprised of 126 brackets. “That son of a bitch. How the hell was he the one who got so lucky?” asked Sean Stokke in a Tuesday-morning e-mail titled ‘F’n Dan Goldman?!?' “I guess he had more time to research this stuff since he can’t spend his time in the Mirage anymore,” Stokke added before 'applauding' Goldman's obvious man-crush on Tyler Hansbrough. Mike Marty went a bit further in his assessment of Goldman's victory, likening it to "another great moment in sports -- the 1919 Black Sox Scandal" and questioning Goldman's well-known Vegas connections. Dan’s bracket nailed 25 of the 32 first round games, 13 of the Sweet 16 teams, six of the Elite 8, and both Villanova and UNC in the Final Four.
With 126 brackets and 93 individual entrants, the 2009 March Madness Pool was far and away the largest event thus far in ALACS history. North Carolina – the odds-on Vegas favorite to win the NCAA Championship at the tournament’s outset – narrowly edged Pitt and Louisville as the most popular national champion pick in the ALACS Pool:
ALACS National Champion Picks
North Carolina - 24.0%
Pitt - 23.2%
Louisville - 20.0%
Memphis - 11.2%
Oklahoma - 5.6%
Gonzaga - 4.8%
UConn - 3.2%
Duke, Wake Forest - 2.4% each
Mizzou, USC, Syracuse - 0.8% each
Goldman narrowly edged not one, but TWO brackets from Mike Boden – who finished in both 2nd and 3rd place. Corey Rhodes and Billy Schreyer rounded out the top five, who will be paid out as follows:
1. Dan Goldman - 143 - $647.18
2. Mike Boden (1) - 142 - $286.36
3. Mike Boden (2) - 139 - $114.55
4. Corey Rhodes - 138 - $57.27
5. Billy Schreyer - 135 - $28.64
Winning the March Madness Pool gives Goldman an immediate boost in the first posting of the 2009 ALACS standings. Dan will look to further boost his score with a successful title defense in the upcoming PGA Majors Game – which begins on Thursday and is still accepting entries (buy-in is $10 and covers all four Majors).
Thanks to everyone who entered the ALACS March Madness Pool -- we hope you'll be back next year.
