1st Scoop Meme Tournament Championship game - How did we get here?

[mu03eng]

The 90,000 seat arena, ill-suited for basketball, is prepared and lighted appropriately.  The media, filled with hyperbole and exaggerated opinions of players and themselves, are waiting.  The memes, well worn and tired, are waiting in the wings...cue dramatic music....it's about time for the Meme championship to get underway.

The voting will kick-off tomorrow morning, but to prime you for the match here is a recap of how we got to this particular match-up

Haikus
Haikus are loved by many and hated by many, but the love seemed to earn them a higher than anticipated 3 seed in the Good Clean American Fun Regional.  However through every match-up Haikus have seemingly proved their seed worthiness and have slayed some powerful memes along the way.  First up was a match against the play-in winner, Vatican Smoke.  Despite fresh legs, Haikus had a bit of a struggle with the Pope telling smoke, giving Haikus a narrower margin of victory in the tournament until the Final Four.  Fresh off the win over Smoke, Haikus faced what many(including this reporter) thought to be an insurmountable opponent in JFB.  JFB is as well a regarded nickname in MU history as you will find, but apparently had nothing of non-rhyming Japanese prose.  Haikus led the whole way and by a significant majority.  A late surge by JFB was easily turned aside, leaving Haikus with a marque win and battle tested going into the sweet sixteen.  In the sweet sixteen, Haikus faced a crowd favorite in Walking Boot, and were considered the underdogs, but again showing pundits wrong rode it's oddly confusing and difficult to master style to a large victory of the main MU piece of attire.  With that win, Haikus faced it's most surprising(from a seed standpoint) and most dangerous opponent, Beer Summit.  Beer Summit was the belle of the ball as a play-in winner that came out of no where to take down some real classic memes.  Beer summit even took down the number #1 overall seed in ____ is evil and must be destroyed, a true blood of memes.  Beer summit looked unstoppable and destined for the greatest story since that time Rudy read a story and was able to write a book report on it that got him a C that allowed him to attend Notre Dame forcing us to hear all about some stupid kid that played in roughly 12 seconds of game time and would be later glamorized in a movie played by a Hobbit.  Wouldn't it be ironic if the story Rudy read was the Hobbit...hmmm, anyway.  Beer Summit looked dominate, but Haikus still had more confusion pentameter in the bag and fought off any willingness to sit down and talk about it's issues over a beer in the backyard of Chico's backyard with Abraham Lincoln, Hoopaloop, and the Easter bunny's slow cousin.  And so, here stands the Haiku, ready to find it's place in glory and cement it's legend in Scoop lore.  The question is:

Haikus are daunting
Common people fail with ease
To accept their appeal

Tanned Tommy
The plucky daring of the Idiosyncrasies Region, Tanned Tommy brought all it's swagger and fake bake to the tournament.  In the opening round match-up the derisive nickname met up with it's interstate rival in Deflections, born of the same ooze, Tanned Tommy seemed to have baked long enough to intimidate the deflections into a convincing win.  However, this win simply put Tanned Tommy on a collision course with a tournament favorite and 2 seed, Tackling Dummy.  What unfolded next was unexpected and quite frankly a boat racing in Tanned Tommy's favor.  Jumping out to a lead so commanding, it appeared Tanned threw some votes Dummy's way just to not lap them twice.  Before Dummy knew what hit it,most likely Travis Diener, (...seee...see what I did there?) Tanned Tommy was spitting on it and punting it into the section that won the Digiorno's pizza from the eagle with fur.  With Dummy out of the way, Tanned Tommy seemingly swelled up with confidence(or being in the booth too long) and thoroughly trounced the 3 seeded Don't Mess with Happy.  To win the regional Tanned Tommy had to not get cut from the team and take out Creaned/Buzzcut/Boned.  Quite frankly, it wasn't close and there isn't much to tell, Tanned Tommy cake walked into the Final Four, where surely it would met an opponent worth of it.  In the Final Four, Tanned looked across the poll to see a shadow figure that can take on many shapes, Hoopaloop.  Hoopaloop, who kind of looked like the sort of something the Ghost Hunters claim is a ghost of video tapes and even after they circle and run it at a frame an hour you still aren't convinced it's anything other than a weird dust flake(do they really need to film in IR at night with no lights on, I mean, seriously), stepped into the voting booth as the team you love to hate.  Everyone hated the meme, but loved it all the same because it stood for every paradigm that was wrong with humanity.  And so, Tanned Tommy had to step out of his UV booth, having never truly been tested, and take on a meme on a mission to fill the world with bizarreness and borderline pathological lying.  However, overcoming of previous meme conventional thinking, Tanned Tommy slicked and oranged its way past the shadowy figure in Hoopaloop.  Not only did Tanned win, he won in utterly convincing fashion, sending Hoopaloop packing.  This dominant victory has to set up Tanned Tommy as the favorite in the championship.

So who do you have?  What was your favorite moment?  How is it all going to end?

[keefe]

Good Lord but the Tanned Tommy write-up is vintage Scoop. My a$$ fell off from laughing 10 minutes ago.

[patso]

To me this is like watching a Notre Dame v Wisconsin game. The match I wanted was Mbakwe v Beer Summit

[🏀]

Not even voting, Mbakwe got hosed.

[JamilJaeJamailJrJuan]

To me this is like watching a Notre Dame v Wisconsin game. The match I wanted was Mbakwe v Beer Summit

Agreed

[SoCalwarrior]

[MUCam]

To me this is like watching a Notre Dame v Wisconsin game. The match I wanted was Mbakwe v Beer Summit

Sadly, I couldn't agree more. I am not sure of who or what that is an indictment. Of the Final Four, three represented my least favorite squads.

Oh, well. Kudos to the finalists and all the hard work they put in to grind out this anti-climatic final.

[mu03eng]

I think it speaks to the fact that the iceberg affect is fully on display at Scoop.  There are clearly a very silent minority that read but don't post that are influencing these decisions....or the dead are voting in Chicago....it's really either or.


Actually, that gets me thinking as well about the posting demographics at Scoop.  What is the average time of people on Scoop and what percentage of "users" on Scoop post at least 4 times a week or some arbitrary metric.  I'd guess that there are less than 30 posters that are responsible for at least 50% of the content on Scoop.  I'd love to see some sort of way to determine that.

[GooooMarquette]

Really surprised at the disappointment about the matchup.  Honestly, I'd have felt the same way if Mbwake or especially Beer Summit made the finals.  Tanned Tommy has been such  a frequent and regular meme on this board for several years.  And while Haikus is new, where the heck else in the college sports world would you find posters exchanging barbs or "inside information" in the form of Japanese poetry?  Perfect!

[Lennys Tap]

Really surprised at the disappointment about the matchup.  Honestly, I'd have felt the same way if Mbwake or especially Beer Summit made the finals.  Tanned Tommy has been such  a frequent and regular meme on this board for several years.  And while Haikus is new, where the heck else in the college sports world would you find posters exchanging barbs or "inside information" in the form of Japanese poetry?  Perfect!

I have two sons who live in Japan. I'm taking haikus plus the points.

[keefe]

Really surprised at the disappointment about the matchup.  Honestly, I'd have felt the same way if Mbwake or especially Beer Summit made the finals.  Tanned Tommy has been such  a frequent and regular meme on this board for several years.  And while Haikus is new, where the heck else in the college sports world would you find posters exchanging barbs or "inside information" in the form of Japanese poetry?  Perfect!

The haiku theme has been referenced and cited by other fan bases on their respective sites. Some find it odd, many think it humorous, but all find it distinctive and unique to the Marquette fan base and Scoop.

[keefe]

I have two sons who live in Japan. I'm taking haikus plus the points.

Honto? Doko ni sunde iruka?

[Lennys Tap]

Honto? Doko ni sunde iruka?

If Honto? means where, Tokyo. My oldest son has been there 8 years and is the principal at an international school. My youngest has been there a little over a year. Teaching English on what is probably a two or three year adventure.

[ChicosBailBonds]

If Honto? means where, Tokyo. My oldest son has been there 8 years and is the principal at an international school. My youngest has been there a little over a year. Teaching English on what is probably a two or three year adventure.

It means "really?"


And though my Japanese is rusty, I believe the correct Romanji should be hontou.  In Hiragana, it is written  ほんとう

[chapman]

Haikus are good fun
But Chicos' idol wins it
Fake tans are back in


Midnight limo rides
Different types of son-kissed
Been thinking of you

[🏀]

Midnight limo rides
Different types of son-kissed
Been thinking of you

Winner.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Haikus are good fun
But Chicos' idol wins it
Fake tans are back in

My daughter isn't up for the award, but she should.  Has a lame tan, however, which is good considering her condition.

[keefe]

If Honto? means where, Tokyo. My oldest son has been there 8 years and is the principal at an international school. My youngest has been there a little over a year. Teaching English on what is probably a two or three year adventure.

Which International School? Our kids and I attended St Mary's and are all active in the alumni network.  

Really cool your boys are grabbing life by the nads and making it an adventure. Tokyo is likely one of the more difficult places to live in Asia so more power to them. Make sure you and your bride get over there to visit. Japan is a fascinating place.

[keefe]

It means "really?"


I believe the correct Romanji should be hontou. 

Uh, no.

[keefe]

Haikus are good fun
But Chicos' idol wins it
Fake tans are back in


Midnight limo rides
Different types of son-kissed
Been thinking of you

son kissed on the lips
or sun kissed dermal layer
which is more bizarre

[Lennys Tap]

undeserved trophies
and embarrassing kisses
the life of Riley

[tower912]

Defending "Redskins"
Thinks he's vicariously
Protecting Tommy

[Lennys Tap]

rich mahogany
cocoa butter in the air
the smell of victory

[Lennys Tap]

Which International School? Our kids and I attended St Mary's and are all active in the alumni network.  

Really cool your boys are grabbing life by the nads and making it an adventure. Tokyo is likely one of the more difficult places to live in Asia so more power to them. Make sure you and your bride get over there to visit. Japan is a fascinating place.

Kais. I think the school is only maybe 20 years old. I'll ask them about St Mary's. I am very proud of them - taking the road less traveled and stretching oneself is rewarding but initially a little daunting. We've been over there twice, the last time we took the whole family. Fascinating, indeed.

[Henry Sugar]

What a terrible final
Count these letters up
Who gives a crap?