And The Winner Is...

Julia helped tally the NCAA brackets (about two weeks after the title game).

It seemed a "dumpster fire" had broken out on everyone's NCAA Tournament brackets due to a host of first round upsets.

But, as you can see from our scoring system, it is the games near the end that really matter and help you pile up the points:

First round win: 1 point
Second round win: 2 points
Sweet 16 win: 4 points
Elite Eight win: 8 points
Final Four win: 16 points
Correctly picking the champion: 32 points

Julia helped tally up the points today and it was pretty close between Cole, Julia and me. In the end, I won with 165 points, with Julia in second (152), followed by Cole (140. Julia said I only won because, "Dad cheated. He copied off of me!"

Anyway, enjoy these final photos – and this year's "One Shining Moment" video.

Here's the final point totals from each round.

There were more brackets to tally this year.

The winning bracket.

Tonight's The Night

This stand in the Atlanta airport was selling Final Four gear this afternoon.

From 64 teams (really 68) to two tonight, I am glad to be back in the United States for the NCAA men's basketball championship. The game is in Atlanta and I happened to fly through the city this afternoon after my original flight was changed. (I was supposed to go through Minneapolis.)

So how are everyone's brackets doing with everything on the line?

Veronica
Championship: Gonzaga vs. Kansas

Olivia
Championship: Ole Miss vs. Kansas

Julia
Championship: Louisville vs. Kansas 
Winner: Louisville

Lauren
Championship: Duke vs. Minnesota

Emily
Championship: Duke vs. Georgetown

Dad
Championship: Louisville vs. Kansas 
Winner: Louisville

"Zahn"
Championship: St. Louis vs. Kansas

It looks like Julia and I are the only two with a chance to win it all, since Louisville is playing Michigan for the championship (at 8:23 p.m. CDT). But we can't leave out Jon – who has Michigan winning over Louisville. (Bridget had Ohio State playing Kansas for the title). Julia told me to "make it sound like he's going down." But that's hard when he picked the two finalists correctly, Julia!

Don't forget to stay tuned in after the post-game ceremony for this year's "One Shining Moment" video. And if you can't stay awake until after 11 o'clock, check out Deadspin's "Dumb Shining Moment" video.

So Who Is Doug Towey?

If you caught the end of CBS's annual salute to the champion of the NCAA Tournament, you might have been asking yourself the same question I was Monday night:

Who is Doug Towey?

His name and photo appeared at the end "One Shining Moment," the popular music montage of basketball action that sums up the highlights of March Madness.

So after taking in this year's music video, I worked my way over to my laptop and went in search of the answer. It took me a few clicks to come across this story, which revealed Towey was the CBS Sports creative director who had a hand in "virtually every major sporting event in the world" during his 34-year career in television.

Of course, he will best be remembered for matching stroke folk singer David Barrett's song "One Shining Moment" into summing up the network's college basketball coverage. He first used it to wrap up CBS' NCAA basketball coverage on March 30, 1987. I recall that particular game ending with Keith Smart of Indiana hitting the game-winner in the final seconds from the baseline. I watched it while putting together that week's edition of The Antelope newspaper (sports section) at Kearney State College.

It was only in recent years that I was turned onto the tradition of the music montage, probably when I was working at KMTV and producing the morning newscast. I believe it was 2003 when I turned the girls onto it and we have watched nearly every edition (courtesy of YouTube) since then.

So how did this year's edition stack up? Not too shabby. It featured quite a bit of natural sound, the usual shots of cheerleaders, bands, coaches, players, etc. It amazes me how they manage to pack the entire championship game into the final 10 seconds or so of the video. But they do it and it comes off seamlessly.

(Be sure and read this nice tribute to Doug Towey.)

Bracket Do-Over

It will be Michigan State against North Carolina Monday.
Obviously, there's a reason Uncle Neil was the youngest statistician in the history of professional basketball. He is good with numbers.

So it didn't come as a big surprise when he called me out on some goofy numbers as they relate to the basketball brackets the girls and I filled out and have been tabulating as the NCAA Tournament went on.

I looked into my "fuzzy math" and figured out I was assigning point values to the wrong columns. So, here are the revised standings with one game to go:

Veronica: 122
Sean (Dad): 113
Emily: 69
Julia: 36
Lauren: 29
(Olivia did not do a bracket this year.)

Veronica has chosen North Carolina to win the national title so she has the potential to better her point total from a year ago. She also wins the family bracket contest for the second straight year. Way to go, Tiny! Not bad for a three-year-old...

There is also the business of laying out the situation with the "mini-brackets" we did (picking only the Final Four games). Olivia and Lauren each correctly picked both of yesterday's winners. Julia and Veronica went 1-for-2 in choosing Connecticut to beat Michigan State. Olivia and Lauren have chosen Michigan State to win Monday night - could it be the familiar ring of the school being a hockey opponent to UNO?

How Those Brackets Are Doing

So I've been out of town for awhile and I did not take the NCAA brackets with me. I didn't think I would have time to update – and I did not. So, one of the first things I did today was pull out the brackets and see how the girls and I did on picking the weekend games.

So here are the standings heading into the Final Four weekend:

Sean: 166
Veronica: 121
Emily: 67
Julia: 56
Lauren: 39

While I have a 45-point lead on Veronica, it is by no means a given that I have the bracket title wrapped up. There are a lot of potential points still for the taking.

Veronica has two teams remaining: Connecticut and North Carolina. She has picked them both to advance to the championship game, with North Carolina taking the title. This means she has the potential to earn 64 more points.

I have North Carolina, Connecticut and Louisville Villanova – with North Carolina predicted to advance to the championship game (and lose). So my potential point value is 16 points.

Emily has Michigan State left and has picked the Spartans to advance to the title game (and lose). So she also has the potential for 16 more points.

Lauren and Julia will not be able to score any more points. They both did a great job of picking the early rounds.

Last year, Veronica won the title after Emily was the early leader. Emily, Veronica and I have all scored more points than we had last year.

It's Bracket Time!

The brackets were filled out by phone - not an easy task.
A year ago, I started a little tradition with my five daughters: filling out NCAA Tournament brackets. We had a little explanation of how the numbers next to the school names coincided with each team's seeding in the 64-team field. In the end, Lauren didn't fill out a bracket, saying it was "too hard." A few weeks later, Veronica (who was two years old at the time) came out the big winner - correctly picking Kansas as the national champion and running away with the mythical family championship (with 114 points).

Here is how points are awarded:

First round win: 1 point
Second round win: 2 points
Sweet 16 win: 4 points
Elite Eight win: 8 points
Final Four win: 16 points
Correctly picking the champion: 32 points

Unfortunately, as of this writing, I have not seen the girls since Jan. 15. So filling out the brackets was done by phone. This time, it was Olivia (our last-place finisher a year ago) who didn't want to do a bracket. But everyone else did - including Veronica. Here's how that conversation went:

Dad: "Veronica, I'll say the names of two teams and I want you to pick the one you think will be the winner."

Veronica: "I love you, Daddy."

Dad: "I know, Veronica. Thank you. Pittsburg or East Tennessee State?"

Veronica: "Pittsburg."

Dad: "Oklahoma State or Tennessee?"

Veronica: "The State."

Dad: "Florida State or Wisconsin?

Veronica: "Dad. We're having popsicles. Mine is orange."

(After a few minutes)

Veronica: "I'm going to hang up now."

Dad: "Just a few more to go, Veronica."

(After a few minutes)

Veronica: "I'm tired, Daddy. Talk to Emily."

Eventually, with some coaxing (three separate times), Veronica completed her entire bracket. The other girls seemed to have a fun time - many of them recalling the teams they chose last year ("Butler" was a favorite). This year, they liked the sound of "American" and "Stephen F. Austin" and seemed to pick a lot of "hockey" schools (Michigan, Michigan State and North Dakota State) - which isn't always a good thing. They also chose California (probably because I have spent a lot of time there this year).

How are things going so far? Well, our little "Bracketologist" continues to amaze. Through the first round, Veronica had correctly picked 26 of 32 winners - including the upsets by Dayton and Western Kentucky.

So, using the system outlined above, here are the point standings heading into second-round games (Saturday second-round games are not included):

Veronica (age 3): 26
Emily (age 12): 23
Dad (age 41): 23
Lauren (age 10): 19
Julia (age 8): 16

As for their Final Four picks, you decide who has the best chance in the end:

Julia: Tennessee, Gonzaga, Louisville, California.
Lauren: Louisville, California, Minnesota, Michigan.
Veronica: Connecticut, North Carolina, Duke, Louisville.
Emily: Michigan State, UNI, Duke, Michigan.
Dad: Louisville, Connecticut, Duke, North Carolina.