Yahoo! Sports and SB Nation Bracket Challenge: Can You Out Pick My Dog?

This is Harper, my Dog. She is a rescue bulldog mix from Georgia, and a diehard UGA fan. Well that is at least what I tell myself. I was trying to think to think of a different, unique way to create a bracket entry, and when I looked at my dog asleep on her pillow, it hit me. I was going to have her choose it for me.

It seemed like quite the challenge, but I figured out a system that I thought would work. It was tedious, and horribly time consuming, but in the interest of sports and this blog I went through it anyways.

Here is how Harper and I did it:

1.My wife and I cut out 32 scraps of paper and put half of the bracket on one side and the other half on the opposite.

2. First round byes for all #1 seeds. Come on I don't want my dog picking UNC Asheville to win it all, when it is a statistical impossibility unknown to canines.

3. Pair up the matchups with a treat ( a kibble from her food, not a lot of food) under each sheet. I would shuffle the papers quickly so I wouldn't see which went where therefore unconsciously influencing Harper. I would get her to go back (a command she knows), and then she would approach on the command "take". Whatever treat she took would be the college that would advance into the next round.

4. The treats were placed closely to each other, to try and prevent her from going for the same one over and over again.

5. Play out all the matchups until a Final Four champion is selected

What I learned

Well Harper was a pretty solid picker, she only made it through one half of the bracket before she kind of gave up/got insatiated from the food. All in all, she never got in a rhythm where she chose one side more dominantly than the other. She picked some major upsets (St Bonaventure over FSU, Harvard over Vandy), but she didn't pick anything too wacky that it's out of the realm of possibility of actually happening. It'll be interesting to see how her bracket holds up against some of the experts.

From the top half of the bracket her Elite Eight were:

Iowa St.
Baylor
Syracuse
Gonazaga

With Gonzaga and Baylor making the Final Four.

Tomorrow I will take Harper through the bottom half of the bracket and let her pick the National Champion. Don't worry, she is getting a lot of treats out of this, and really likes doing it. You can challenge my dog on Yahoo! in the SBNation Wisdom of the Fan group. You can also join the BC Interruption group, or better yet join both!

And now for your amusement, Harper will now play dead. Good girl!

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