Obama's N.C.A.A. Bracket Is One of the Best
- ️//topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/michael_d_shear/index.html
- ️Sat Mar 19 2011
The Caucus | Obama’s N.C.A.A. Bracket Is One of the Best
Obama’s N.C.A.A. Bracket Is One of the Best
Doug Mills/The New York Times President Obama on ESPN revealing his N.C.A.A. mens’s basketball bracket on Wednesday.Being president is an ego trip. So you would have thought President Obama wouldn’t need to add to his bragging rights. But Mr. Obama’s N.C.A.A. men’s basketball bracket stands — for the moment, anyway — as one of the best out there.
Out of 32 games, Mr. Obama has accurately predicted all but three. As of Saturday morning, he ranks at No. 16 on The Times’s bracket site, tied with many others. Mr. Obama has a total of 166 out of 195 points possible.
The success of the president’s picks may bring him attention that White House aides would rather do without. Critics of the president chastised him for spending time on college basketball — and announcing his bracket on ESPN — even as the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan and violence spread in the Middle East and north Africa.
“Millions of Americans will be filling out a bracket this week, but only one of them is responsible for signing a federal budget, monitoring the crisis in the Middle East and assisting with a major humanitarian effort in Japan,” said Kirsten Kukowski, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee.
“With all of those pressing issues on the President’s plate, we would be happy to hear the White House explain why filming an ESPN special on the N.C.A.A. tournament should be a priority on his public schedule,” Ms. Kurkowski said.
White House aides dismissed the criticism and noted that Mr. Obama used the ESPN interview to urge people to donate to relief efforts in Japan. And in sports, Americans love nothing more than a winner, so the criticism is likely to fade as the basketball tournament proceeds.
Mr. Obama has accurately predicted the winners of some of the closest games, including ones between George Mason University and Villanova, Kentucky and Princeton, and Temple and Penn State.
He stumbled just a bit, picking Georgetown over Virginia Commonwealth, perhaps going with the alma mater of his communication’s director, Dan Pfeiffer.
Mr. Obama also erroneously picked Louisville over Morehead State and Michigan State over UCLA. Both of his picks lost by a hair to the other team.
Mr. Obama has picked Kansas to win the championship final over Ohio State. His picks for the final eight teams are all still alive, giving him a shot at a near-perfect bracket.
All of which proves one thing: Mr. Obama knows his hoops.