N.Y. Times' experts explain it all -Navigating the Bracket: Which teams have the makeup to go all the way, and which teams are potential upset picks?

New York Times video: Navigating the Bracket
Which teams have the makeup to go all the way, and which teams are potential upset picks? NYT sports reporter Pete Thamel and NYT political analyst Nate Silver of Five Thirty Eight blog give their take. Produced by Justin Sablich, Tamir Elterman.
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/03/14/sports/ncaabasketball/100000000725879/navigating-the-bracket.html

See also:

Chicago Tribune
Obama talks chalk with NCAA picks
By Michael A. Memoli, Washington Bureau
6:34 p.m. CDT, March 16, 2011
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/obama/ct-talk-obama-ncaa-picks-0317-20110316,0,3277711.story

At IU, we had a name for someone like President Obama who picks all the top-ranked teams to make it to the Elite 8: a butt-kissing corporate shill.


Who’s No. 1? Investigating the Mathematics of Rankings
By Patrick Honner amd Holly Epstein Ojalvo
March 14, 2011, 3:02 pm
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/whos-no-1e-investigating-the-mathematics-of-rankings/


Five Thirty Eight blog
When 15th Is Better Than 8th: The Math Shows the Bracket Is Backward
By Nate Silver
March 15, 2011, 11:40 pm

Suppose that, lucky you, you’re the coach of a team given a No. 8 seed in the N.C.A.A. tournament bracket.

This is a less-than-ideal position: provided that you win your first-round game, you’re due to face the No. 1 seed in the second round.

Read the rest of the post at:
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/when-15th-is-better-than-8th-the-math-shows-the-bracket-is-backward/

For more info:
http://ncaabracket.nytimes.com/2011/bracket/men/
http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/t/pete_thamel/index.html
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheNewYorkTimes

What negative campaign ads? Two years later, this SNL skit about John McCain is STILL funny, esp. Bill Hader's sarcastic voice!

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McCain Approves Open
Sen. McCain approves truth-enhanced negative campaign messages

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live//video/McCain-Approves-Open/669582

The antidote to negative campaigning is laughter, mockery and stone-cold facts.

Here's a 2008 Saturday Night Live skit that does just that -sort of- with Kristen Wiig, Jason Sudeikis, Darrell Hammond as U.S. Senator John McCain and Bill Hader as the creepy-yet-effective VO announcer.

I only wish that the 2010 campaign commercials I'd seen in the South Florida TV market were as clever and inspired as this skit.

Frankly, as much as people complain about them, I've seen a lot of TV ads that others thought were negative which I felt weren't so much negative -or as negative as they should've been considering who they were mocking- so much as poorly-produced and ham-handed, like the Joe Garcia ads for FL-25 against David Rivera.

That's the House seat that Mario Diaz-Balart abandoned in order to run for his retiring brother Lincoln's seat, FL-21, which the New York Times' campaign blog run by Nate Silver, FiveThirtyEight, currently puts at precisely 99.5%.

Which is why those videos produced by Scott Fortune that I mentioned here on Monday,
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-tv-ad-from-fairdistrictsfloridaorg.html
are so effective for the idea of ending gerrymandering, if not getting him into Congress from a ridiculously drawn district, FL-3.
http://www.youtube.com/user/ScottFortune4U

Facts and mockery cut thru the TV clutter every time.

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/

http://elections.nytimes.com/2010/house/florida/25

http://elections.nytimes.com/2010/house/florida/21

http://www.nytimes.com/politics/