MB 2012 – End of Days

As June rolls to a close, so does the first 12-month season of MegaBracket. A long, strange journey that began with the IFL and SIFL last June ends with the crowning of the UIFL champion on July 2. All of the final round playoff matchups have been clinched, however, meaning the remaining MB 2012 events to be completed are simply for accounting purposes. In the meantime, another season begins, bringing with it a sense of renewal and championship hopes in the homes of all of the competitors, except perhaps in Chicago where the odds are in favor of another title-less season for the Cubs JP . However, before we move on and jump headlong into MB 2013 (our 3rd season), let us take a look back at the year that was…

MegaBracket 2012 – A Season in Review

Part 1 of many several ??? – The Regular Season

The season kicked off on June 18, 2011 with the opening of the Indoor Football League and the Southern Indoor Football League playoffs. (In a nod to the nature of many of the events contained in MegaBracket, the SIFL no longer exists.) Five playoff games were played on June 18, opening the first year-long season of MegaBracket. Foreshadowing much of the future, Bristol & Jimmy shared the MB lead after Day 1, while JP occupied the basement.

The 2012 season employed event-based divisions, rather than the time-based blocks coming in MB 2013. This circumstance led to several divisions typically being contested at once, perhaps distracting from the races. Chris earned the first division title, claiming the Baseball division by an 8-point margin over Ryan. The division titles meant little other than pride in MB 2012, although the plan for the future is to tie each division (now MegaBlock) championship to a spot in the 16-person MegaBracket playoffs. The esteemed list of division winners during the regular season is shown below.

• Pro Football – Bred
• Fall Pro Sports – Bred
• Baseball – Chris
• Collegiate Winter Sports – Bristol
• Volleyball & Soccer – Chris
• Winter & Spring Pro Sports – Greg
• College Football – Bristol
• CIS – Bristol
• Men’s Basketball – Bristol
• Women’s Basketball – Bristol
• College Hockey – Doug
• Spring NCAA – Jimmy
• Division I Men’s Basketball – Greg
• Canadian Hockey – Bristol

Bristol led the way with 6 division titles while Bred, Chris & Greg each captured two. The final two crowns were taken by Doug and Jimmy. Jimmy had the most division runner-ups with 4, Bristol and Greg had 3 each, Doug 2, and Chris and Ryan one apiece.

The overall points battle was intense early in the season, although Bristol took a commanding lead in November and never looked back, earning the #1 seed heading into the post-season. While Chris had a lockdown on the 6th seed for several months as well, there were several lively battles for seeding position. Jimmy and Greg battled for 2nd & 3rd until the final weeks of the regular season, while the 4th & 5th seeds (Ryan & Doug) and the 7th & 8th seeds (JP & Bred) came down to the final days and in the case of JP & Bred, the final moments. In the end, Jimmy, Ryan & JP nailed down the better seeds as the regular season came to a close.

Final Regular Season Standings

1. Bristol – 12512
2. Jimmy – 11634
3. Greg – 11423
4. Ryan – 10312
5. Doug – 10178
6. Chris – 9540
7. JP – 7661
8. Bred – 7629