Championing the “Underdogs”: Intrepid Pup Bracketology 2013

Tavish takes his basketball very seriously. Unfortunately, he’s consistently inconsistent.

67 pieces of kibble were sacrificed in the making of this article.

Yes, it’s once again time for the Intrepid Pup to release his bracket picks for the 2013 NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament.  If you recall…with food (and an affinity for basketball?) as motivation, Tavish forayed into March Madness last year, enthusiastically indicating his picks by tipping Planet Dog™ bowls.

Lessons learned:

1.  Tavish likes underdogs. In the Land of Intrepid Pup, Detroit would have gone to the Sweet 16, and Southern Mississippi was headed for the Final Four.

2.  Unfortunately, Tavish lacks the accuracy of international sensation Paul the Octopus, who made a pretty impressive run in picking European soccer matches in his short but brilliant career as an oracle from 2008 to 2010. So, Vegas bookies, listen up:  let the exact opposite of the Pup’s picks be your true guide!

But all in all, the 2012 edition of Intrepid Pup Bracketology was such fun that Team Tavish decided to resurrect it for 2013.  We kept the same technique as last year—a choice between two identical treats each representing a team—but sped up the process.  What originally involved three separate bracketology sessions last year (which also incorporated filming the YouTube video) we were now able to accomplish in a single lightning round this year lasting about an hour. What can we say? Tavish was focused!

Once again, Tavish reveals his one consistency:  championing the underdogs and thus picking some wild Cinderella teams.  For example, in rapid succession Tavish has #16 North Carolina A&T ousting #1 Louisville and Harvard beating New Mexico. Oh, and news flash: LIU-Brooklyn is marching all the way to the Final Four!  Seriously, pup, what’s with the fascination with LIU?  You’d also picked them to upend Michigan State in the first round last year…do you think their mascot is a vizsla or something?  We’re beginning to think this is more about what Tavish would like to see than what will actually happen.

Without further ado, here are the Pup’s complete picks. Spoiler alert:  as this post goes to press, we’re mere hours into the tournament and already large chunks of Tavish’s brackets are blown to smithereens:

On a final note, we should mention the cat.  He doesn’t often appear in the annals of the Intrepid Pup, but he was watching with cool disinterest from afar while Tavish careened all over the living room, merrily advancing LaSalle and Iona in the “big dance.”  While the cat is also extremely food-driven, there was simply no way he was going to sit there and make 67 picks.  Leave that to the dog. But, once Tavish had come up with his Final Four, we couldn’t resist—in true Deus Ex Machina fashion—reeling in the cat to pick a champion: Southern University. Oh, brother.