As much as I am a fan of college basketball, picking games in the NCAA Tournament is a weakness of mine.
We kinda brought back the tournament bracket challenge without much fanfare. For that, I apologize. I promise next year I’ll have a better grasp of what this job is and I will do a much better job of performing it.
I will admit I kind of got a little bogged down with the spring sports preview section that had stories on each team for Platte County, North Platte, West Platte, Park Hill and Park Hill South. The rush to get those stories done, photos found and get that out the door was the same week as the conference tournaments and last thing I knew Michael Porter Jr. was going to be back for Mizzou and next thing I knew it was Monday morning and we had the paper done. That isn’t an excuse but just more of an FYI.
There were quite a few people that beat me and congrats on that. Especially Meredith Bailey, who picked the finals correctly. I will be in contact with each of you and we will get that three-month trial subscription on the way to you shortly. I’m sure my boss may have a monkey make my picks next year and they might be more accurate, but hey, it is a fun run for a while. I did have Villanova in the finals, but the left side of my bracket turned into a wasteland.
I appreciate those that did take part and I hope you enjoy what we are providing in terms of coverage for the county. I have a great team that has helped make the transition from one boss to another easy and we have kept the same standard of coverage — I think — from when Ross Martin was here. I learned a lot from him in my time in St. Joseph and I have carried that with me after I replaced him there and then went to Maryville. We might not make it to every high school sporting event but we will try to hit everyone at least once every few weeks. We might not make every council or board of aldermen meeting, but we will follow through and report the news.
Here are the standings from the bracket tournament:
Meredith Bailey 42
Frank Roe 39
Tony Farr 38
Cacy Williams 37
Jeannie Hernandez 37
Bill Williams 37
Shannon Giese 37
Heather Price 36
Chelsea Davenport 34
Judy Williams 33
Kiel Giese 33
Steve Hernandez 34
Andrew Hernandez 33
Cory Williams 31
Cody Thorn 30
Ione Roe 30
Bethany Williams 30
Brandon Zenner 27
Maureen Williams 22
Anthony Hernandez 20
****
I grew up covering sports in newspapers since I started at 18 years old, but I will say the past few days around here has been some of the more interesting days in terms of journalism.
On Monday, I saw my first ever election decided by someone pulling a name out of a box. Later that night, I saw a city decide to spend $6,000 for a special election to break a tie.
Finally, I saw a change in leadership can be when I was at the Village of Ferrleview meeting with a new chairperson, Phil Gilliam, voted into the role.
Cody Thorn is publisher of The Citizen. He may be reached via email at editor@plattecountycitizen.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Citizen_CodyT.