Monday, February 23, 2009

Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament - Sweet 16

Welcome to the Sweet 16 round of the Best Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament! Before we proceed with the voting, I want to address a comment from the first round. An anonymous commenter wrote, "voting is VERY easily rigged. Anyone can vote an unlimited number of times by changing a certain setting in your browser." Personally, I’m not smart enough to figure out how to change browser settings, but I’m sure that many of you can. I can’t believe that I even need to write this, but there is no need to cheat and vote multiple times. We’re not Montreal fans trying to get their players into the NHL All-Star Game. This is a silly blog contest in an attempt to highlight some of the best Pittsburgh sports blogs. The winner gets absolutely nothing. The idea of this is to be fun, so let’s keep it that way. Thank you.

A brief recap of the first round: the top seeds in the Demetreus Gore, Jock Callander and Rich Erenberg divisions all won. The only upsets occurred in the always turbulent Sammy Khalifa division where the #5 seed DC Steeler Nation defeated #4 RizzoSports Blog and Sportsocracy, the #7 Cinderella team, took out #2 Heels, Sox & Steelers. I guess having non-Pittsburgh teams in your blog name hurts in the Best Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament!

I also want to recognize the incredibly close match in the Jock Callander division between #3 One For the Other Thumb (51.6%) and Raise the Jolly Roger (48.4%). This match-up went back and forth and was almost as exciting as the recent Steelers-Cardinals Super Bowl. OK, that may be a bit of a stretch. Let's go with this: It was more exciting than Jeff Reed vs. the Sheetz towel dispenser!

On a personal note, I want to thank the fine folks in Alberta, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada and Alabama for choosing Sean’s Ramblings over Behind the Steel Curtain. If only the other 45+ states voted for me...

The Sweet 16 voting begins now and will end on Tuesday evening at 8:00pm Eastern time. Here is your updated bracket:




Sammy Khalifa Division

1. Behind the Steel Curtain vs. 5. D.C. Steeler Nation



3. Where Have You Gone Andy Van Slyke vs. 7. Sportsocracy




Jock Callander Division

1. The Pens Blog vs. 4. Nice Pick, Cowher



2. Empty Netters vs. 3. One for the Other Thumb




Demetreus Gore Division

1. Mondesi’s House vs. 4. Faceoff Factor



2. The Confluence vs. 3. Pitt Blather




Rich Erenberg Division

1. Pittsburgh Sports and Mini Ponies vs. 4. Bucs Dugout



2. PensBurgh vs. 3. Blog ‘n’ Gold



Thanks for voting and thanks to all of these great bloggers for providing hours of entertainment and information!




In addition, thanks again to Cotter of One For the Other Thumb for creating the awesome logo.


Update: Voting is now closed. You can click the vote now buttons to see who won but the vote won't count. The Elite Eight round will begin on Wednesday morning. Thanks to everyone for visiting and voting!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Alberta is a state now? I know we Americans like to pretend that we own Canada, but come on--even I don't want to be associated with Alberta.

Sean said...

Random - I completely botched that sentence. What I meant to write is that I got more votes than Behind the Steel Curtain in the province of Alberta and the states of Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada and Alabama. Basically, I did slightly better than Walter Mondale!

Anonymous said...

voting is rigged?

I can't even see where it says

VOTE HERE

Sean said...

The voting seems to be working fine for me (well, Sean not "me). Once you highlight who you want to vote for, then you can click "cast your vote."