15th Annual FALAFEL Draft Location Madness - Elite Eight

 

The year of the underdog continues as we lose another 1 and 2 seed. This has to be the largest combined seed total in the Elite Eight that we've ever had. 

But I think this round is midnight for our Cinderellas as we revert back to our norms: 1) Top seeds win this bracket, and 2) We loath crossing the Mississippi River.

Barring some unexpected Nashville nostalgia, or Marco worrying about immigration, I expect to see the 1s and 2s facing off in the Final 4. No idea where we go from there so let's get there ASAP.

15th Annual FALAFEL Draft Location Madness - Sweet Sixteen

 

Upset Special!

Without doing any research, I have to think that 6 upsets is the most we've ever had in a single round. And given that there were three byes, nearly half of our matchups saw the underdog win.

That said, three of the upsets were 4-5, and the biggest shocker was maybe Salt Lake City beating Kansas City? The favorites are all still alive.

Special call out to Key West putting up the worst performance we've ever seen by a 1 seed. I think an  8 seed has won before, but Key West only got more votes than two other locations despite being the top seed in it's region. Well done Bennett.

Reading the tea leaves, a Poconos/Minny/Montreal/Jersey final four seems somewhat imminent. All good options, but maybe there's an underdog out there somewhere.

15th Annual FALAFEL Draft Location Madness - The Bracket

 

Here we go!

Interesting bracket for a few reasons:

1. We have our first set of Byes, for top seeds Poconos, Las Vegas, and the Jersey Shore. Key West is the unlucky 1 seed who has to compete in Round 1, and it gets a formidable opponent in Smashville.

2. The Poconos region has to be the most eclectic set of locations we've ever had, even including the fact that there are only 7 in there. We have rural Pennsylvania, a lake in NY that is somehow inconvenient for everyone other than Barnard (and maybe Frank, who I assume lives in a cave nearby), the theme park capital of central Wisconsin, a German city known for Oktoberfest and Hitler (and it's not Oktoberfest), an absolute monolith in DFW, classic NOLA, and generic Charlotte. 

3. Love seeing in the NFC North battle in Jersey Shore's region.

4. Ithaca vs. Kansas City, KS might be a new low for us in terms of excitement. 

5. I can't wait to hear Levine bitch about how unfair this process is when he didn't even submit votes.