There isn’t a sports fan who doesn’t dream of filling out that perfect bracket all the way to the national championship and winning $1 million and getting a nice fifteen minutes of fame. This season, that dream ended very quickly for about 99 percent of the brackets out there thanks to a first round upset by 15th seeded Middle Tennessee over 2nd seeded Michigan State.
But, for one man in Yahoo! Sports’ brackets, he was about as perfect as you can get going in to the Final Four. See, he was one of a select few in the challenge to correctly pick all four members of the 2016 Final Four.
Cause for celebration indeed, except for the same man, James Kiki, forgot a vital step in the process. He actually failed to fill out a national championship winner and therefore won’t be winning the prize money he should’ve.
That’s a $50,000 mistake bro.
Not only did Kiki have Syracuse over Virginia, he had Oklahoma over Oregon and Villanova over Kansas. His only miss in the Elite Eight? Picking North Carolina to beat West Virginia instead of Notre Dame.
For shame….
Just in case you were wondering, Kiki has a Villanova-North Carolina national championship tilt. After picking 48 of the 60 games correct to date, perhaps we should all be wise to not be surprised to see that end up being the final we see next Monday.
And for the rabid sports fan out there that combs over every detail and waits to pick the perfect bracket, Kiki is one of “those” people — he’s never filled out a bracket before in his life.
Partially because he’s an immigrant from the South Sudan, but also because he really hasn’t had any interest in doing so in the past.
“I was like, ‘What the heck. Let me just try it because, why not?” Kiki said. “That’s why I ended up filling one. I had never done one probably ever.”
What started out as a dream scenario has certainly turned in to the ultimate “what if” moment for any sports fan in the country. Kiki may still be able to lay claim to the best bracket in the country, but he’ll also be the butt of jokes from friends for the rest of his life as well.
Maybe redemption will be in order for next season?
“I haven’t even thought about filling one out next year,” Kiki said. “If I do, I’m going to make sure everything is saved before I hit submit.”
Talk about March (soon to be April) Madness.
[CBS Sports] [photo: CBS Sports]
