Matthews: Obama's NCAA Picks 'Close to Brilliant'; Almost Half of ESPN Entrants Doing Better!

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Would you call getting a 53 on a test "close to brilliant?"

If you're Chris Matthews, and you're reporting about Barack Obama you would, for on Monday's "Hardball," the MSNBC host bragged about his president being "close to brilliant," "amazing," "incredibly on target," and "unbelievable" with his NCAA college basketball tournament picks.

Yet, when you dig into the numbers, out of all the entrants into ESPN.com's Tournament Challenge 2009, Obama currently ranks 2,167,290, which makes his relative score compared to others 53.20 percent.

This means that 46.80 percent of contestants -- or almost half -- are doing better than the President, but that didn't interfere with Matthews' praise (h/t NBer Chris Bennett):

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So, how's President Obama doing?  His job approval ratings are still high.  What about his NCAA bracket picks?  Actually, they‘re close to brilliant.  It's amazing how the guy has extra I.Q. points to do this stuff.  But he is incredibly on target with—of course, he‘s picked the higher seeds, of course. [...]

Now for tonight's “Big Number.” 

March madness is in full swing, which gives us the opportunity to study the predictions of the basketball aficionado now working in the Oval Office.  How many teams in the Sweet 16 did President Barack Obama correctly pick?  Unbelievable.  Fourteen of the 16.  He got them right.  The two teams he didn‘t expect to make it and did were Arizona and Xavier. 

President Obama correctly picked 14 out of the Sweet 16 -- tonight's “Big Number.” 

Now let's hope he has got as good of pick in percentaging in the financial crisis.  Let‘s hope he‘s as sharp there. 

Actually, with 46.80 percent doing better, let's hope Obama's handicapping of the financial crisis is far more astute or we're ALL in a LOT of trouble.

That said, for the record, regardless of rankings, there is NOTHING brilliant about Obama's picks so far. After all, of the sixteen he predicted would get into the third round, only one wasn't a top four seed in its respective bracket.

As such, those that picked all four regional top seeds to get into the Sweet Sixteen got fourteen out of sixteen right just like Obama. 

Furthermore, Obama's only deviation from top fours was Purdue -- a five seed. Predicting a five to beat a four is NOT rocket science, and by no means brilliant.

Sadly, this was lost upon Matthews whose tingle up the leg continues to interfere with his cognitive skills.

—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters. Follow him at Facebook and Twitter.


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Brilliant! “There are

Brilliant!

“There are no easy answers' but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.” - Ronald Reagan (1964 Republican Convention)

Praise

Matthews and Olbermann would praise Chairman Obama if, during the State of the Union address, Obama lowered the microphone to his backside and broke wind loudly.

Come to think of it, he would probably make more sense that way. But only one problem; you couldn't get that on a teleprompter. 

couldn't get that on a teleprompter...

sure you could:

<Pfffttt> 

<Pffffttt>

Huh?  Barack who??

 

Gary


Sorry Al, I've used up my allotment of "give a crap!"

Well Then I Must Be Super Brilliant

I'm in 27,000th place (or thereabouts) on ESPN. 

P.S.  I don't consider myself brilliant.  


Brilliant?

Compared to Barack <Pfffttt> you're a stark, raving genius!!  Rock on Hoosier!!

 

Gary


Sorry Al, I've used up my allotment of "give a crap!"

I think I am going to barf

Can Matthews get his head any farther up Obama’s A@#? This is sick!

 

Who cares?! What is said is that Obama is better picking his bracket than picking cabinet heads, good jokes for Leno, and the correct President of France.

 

This guy is scary! God Help us! But, at least, Obama’s teams are in the “sweet 16!”  

 

http://franklinslocke.blogspot.com/

Extra IQ points?

Whoah! I hope he doubled up on the panty liners for that one.

Only a useful idiot like Tingles would disregard the fairly significant luck component of picking winners and turn it into a stunning intellectual feat.

Witness what almost happened in Siena v. Louisville. 

Brilliant, my a**!

NCAA brackets are not exactly rocket science and luck can take you far.  Heck, I didn't even watch a single dribble of college hoops this past season and I'm in 1,717,101st place at 62.96%.  I guess I should be president.

Poor deluded, tingly Chrissie.  He really is just a reality show TV host now.

HAHAHAHAHA

 I don't watch b-ball at all, but got bored, and did a bracket. I got 12 out of 16 right. I guess it was my "extra IQ points," because I don't know nuthin' about the teams. Matthews continues to be an embarassment. I wonder how many people that work at MSNBC admit it when they are out and about? My guess is they lie like rugs. I would.

 

All a Democrat needs is the upper-story window of public attention and the chamber pot of rhetoric. How else to explain the rise of Joe Biden?  P.J. O' Rourke

This reminds me of that

This reminds me of that story a few years ago from the North Korea state press talking about Kim Jong-Il playing his first round of golf.  I think they said he shot 16 holes in one or something like that, complete fantasy. 

Matthews is a joke.  Its sad really.

I believe it

Ever see that course? There's a huge gopher hole every two feet.

matthews

So Mr. Tingly thinks Sgt. Schultz is "close to brillant" and "amazing" because of his NCAA picks.  Would Mr. Tingly care to ask the Poles or Czechs about  how "close to brillant" or "amazing" Sgt. Schultz is as they reorganize their schools to teach Russian as a second language? No, I don't think so. This campaign eternal and lack of definitive focus is going to catch up with Sgt. Schultz and the Demoncrats sooner than they think.  November 2010 is only 20 months away.  The country needs some adult intervention, soon.

Matthews is past being a

Matthews is past being a sick cookie....his cookie has crumbled, we are just watching what is left of his crumbs.

Pathetic.

Really, Chris Mathews is appears to be mentally disturbed...

It's painful and embarrassing to even read what he's said recently.

You'd think someone at NBC would have the heart to counsel the fellow to take time off and seek some industrial-strength psychiatric care.

Error in article

The seeds that made it:

Four #1s

Four #2s

Four #3s

Two #4s

One #5

One #12

If you picked all the top 4 seeds in all 4 regions, you would've matched the Presidents total with 14, not 13.

CJ

CJ,

You're right. Thanks. Corrected.  ns

Depends on curve or grading scale re: 53.

If it were a course in, say, chemical engineering thermodynamics or reaction kinetics, on a curve that might be a C.

But on a straight 100-to-0 scale, Obama's picks are brilliant only if you dumb-down the scale to fit his failure. Kind of like government--oops, public--education does now and how many of the most "brilliant" universities seem to be inflating their grades.

Would somebody please put Mathews into a padded cell? This guy's now embarrassingly pathological in what he says about Obama.

 

Padded cell?

Let's really drive him crazy. Put him in a round room and tell him to go piss in the corner!

Does this remind anyone else of the old beer commercials showing the two bouncing scientists. "Beer in a bottle... BRILLIANT!" I can see Olbie and Chrissie bouncing up and down now. "Spread the wealth... BRILLIANT!" "Class warfare... BRILLIANT!" "Close Gitmo... BRILLIANT!" "Blame everything on Bush...... BRILLIANT!"

Tingly Chrissy is way

Tingly Chrissy is way beyond creepy now.  If Obama stripped naked, smeared peanut butter on himself, and pranced around on the White House lawn singing "The Sound of Music", Chrissy would think it was a masterful display...

 What creepiness.  And the left always accuses conservatives of having latent homoerotic tendencies...can you say *PROJECTION*?? (and they project on myriad other issues, not just that!)

If Obama stripped naked,

If Obama stripped naked, smeared peanut butter on himself, and pranced around on the White House lawn singing "The Sound of Music", Chrissy would think it was a masterful display...

Noel, TheConservativeChemist is scaring me...

Yes Kimberly, The new and much larger NB!

Oh remember the days when 25 comments per topic was a large number. Well the times have changed.

P.R.I.N.T. Money   30 sec YT 

Don't be scared! I was just

Don't be scared! I was just trying to think of something so ridiculous
and patently absurd that any sane person would think it was nuts, and
point out Mathews would STILL gush over it...such do the depths his
unrequited man-love for O-zero run...

Four more years of Matthews embarrassing himself.

And MSNBC signed on Matthews for four more years yesterday for his "extra I.Q. points" in imitation of the North Korean State News by fawning over and protecting the Dear Leader. 

Chemits

My eyes just melted like the scene from Scanners.

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2935528448/tt0081455

The ESPN Tournament Challenge is incredibly accurate

I'd say that at least 46% of the general populace would be doing a much better job in the White House too. I bet even a full 60% would not be speeding us down the road to Socialism.

I bet that almost 80% would agree with me in saying that instead of getting multi-million dollar bonuses, the executives at AIG should have been standing in the unemployment line with so many others.

Hey, I got the wrong "CHANGE"!

www.loyaltoliberty.com

Whoa! He's average!

53rd percentile, if we were talking IQ, would translate to about 105.  But then, compared to the average Congressman, that's pretty impressive.

Someone explain to me

What is wrong with these people that just HAVE to have someone else be brilliant?

 I noticed it during the campaign.  Everybody pronounces Obama brilliant (based on not much evidence that I could find), and acts like he's something from another, brillianter, planet, come to save us.

And still it goes on!

What is the psychological problem that people have, who have to declare someone else smarter than they are?  Even in spite of all evidence to the contrary!

 There has to be some sort of psychological reason for it.

It's an ego thing

They already worship him and would follow him into a swamp in their skivies. So in order toboost their own ego, they have to proclaim him as brillient and a genius. After all, who would feel good about following an average socialist who doesn't even understand the constitution?

Hey, I got the wrong "CHANGE"!

www.loyaltoliberty.com

from another, brillianter, planet

Remember Obama as "The Lightworker"?

Kinda like those way-more-advanced-than-us undersea beings in 'The Abyss'.

So brilliant, why they've even transcended the need for physical bodies. 

 Brillance is in the eye of

 Brillance is in the eye of the beholder and matthews and olbermoron need new glasses.

yeah but how good is he

yeah but how good is he against the point spread?

Over the last several

Over the last several decades, whenever there has been a republican president, the libtards tried link the president to the classic fable "The Emperor's New Clothes." 

Now that we have a truly clueless president - a guy who makes Carter look good (well, sorta), none of his libtard minions have the courage to admit that this emperor has no clothes...

Not close

rsl775

Get into a pool and see what it takes. Last year I picked 84% of the games correct including the final 2 and the winner correct. I wasn't even close to winning the pool.

To notice the emperor is clothesless, someone has to have...

. . .eyes to see and the desire to see with those eyes, as well as the cognition to understand what's been seen.

GOOD GRIEF!!

Tingly is going to die from anal poisoning if he isn't careful..........

shmergo

Ain't it amazing he hasn't died from suffocation?

But at least Mr BoTingles was able to use

 Brilliant and Obama in the same sentence again. That was his point he needed to get across to both of his viewers that tuned in for their nightly BoGasm.

 

"I need more cowbell!" SNL

It's Official: Tingles is

It's Official: Tingles is teh ghey. No doubt about it. He shames himself by staying in the closet at this point.

A nation cannot be free without a free, unbiased media. We are not free.

My bracket is doing better than Obama's

Obama's Bracket: 2,167,290th Place

My Bracket: 1,284,827th Place

I don't mean to brag or anything.  I'm just showing you that some guy who hardly knows anything about the teams playing in the tournamount did almost a million times better than a guy who graduated from Harvard and who fancies himself as a basketball wizard.  

Obama is 135 out of 147 in

Obama is 135 out of 147 in my pool.  Someone entered his picks into my pool just to see, and he is in the 8th percentile.  To be noted my pool gives extra points for correctly picking upsets, any moron can pick all of the top seeds and be expected to do moderately well.

Try this bracket

When the time comes around...I would love to see how well he could do with predicting who would win the Stanley Cup.

 All fun and games with this guy.  I don't mind him following the tourney, but we don't need tv time of him filling out a bracket.  I do have to give him some credit...he does pick a team in big games...like the Steelers.  Most presidents would play it down the middle.

 I wonder if he took more time working on his bracket than on some of this budget plan of his?

I agree with Coach K and the

I agree with Coach K and the other college coaches...shouldn't he be paying attention to, you know, HIS JOB? He acts like being President is just the stepping stone to do "cool" stuff like go on Leno, fly on Air Force 1, etc...

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