What makes the NCAA tournament so much fun each year is its unpredictability. Crazy upsets every round, a Cinderella making an unexpected run.

That unpredictability opens the door for the underdog — not just in the tournament itself, but in the Glimm. That’s how, back in 1995, Glimm namesake Marion Glim won the pool — the high school calculus teacher took advantage of Final Four runs by fourth-seeded Oklahoma State and second-seeded Arkansas (read more about Mrs. Glim’s run, and why the pools is named for her). 

Now, 30 years later, Mrs. Glim’s grandson did the opposite: Eli Lester rode the chalk to first place. Houston, Auburn, Florida and Duke, the four No. 1 seeds, all reached the Final Four. And Eli, one of several relatives of Mrs. Glim to compete in the Glimm each year, picked all four of them in his eli 4 bracket.

That gave Eli 119.5 points — half a point ahead of Francesca Catalano’s Cesca and Sean Ceglinsky‘s eponymous bracket.

The Ott’s didn’t fare so well. Jack Otter’s OtterV 3.0 picked just two of the Final Four right, and he fell to fourth place. Otto Kern’s Ottomatic 2 got three of the Final Four, but slipped all the way to 11th. 

In the women’s pool, it was much the same: Sure, one #1 seed lost, but is it really an upset when they were 14-point underdogs, or did the committee just get the seeds badly wrong? 

Yes, second-seeded UConn was the heavy favorite over top-seeded USC, and UConn won. And Paul (Mordyusa1) and Paige (Paige1) Mordarski rode that win to the top of the standings. Paul is in first place with 121.5 points, three points ahead of second-place Paige. Lauren Limball’s LK2 and Mike Kern’s Mimi and Michael are tied for third with 117.5.

Other Glimmbits:

* Seven-year-old Sammy Eckerling set his sites on the men’s Glimm Scholarship over the weekend. By going 7-for-8 in the Elite Eight then 3-for-4 in the Final Four, Sammy moved into first place in the Kids Championship with 104 points, 1.5 points ahead of Kendall Gregor’s kgregor. 

* Eli Rosenberg’s Eliskul32 remains in the lead in the women’s Kids Championship with 98 points. Sydney Kwarta’s Sydney Hummingbirds is in second with 90 points, and Malcolm Stamm’s King bracket is in third with 89. 

* The first Glimm prizes of 2025 were locked up: Both men’s and women’s Pity Prizes are done. In the men’s pool, Rosaleen Ortiz’s Harris Hoops finished with 28.5 points, clinching last place. In the women’s pool, Penny Kowitt’s PennyK3 finished with 40 points. Both Rosaleen and Penny will get their $5 back. 

* The women’s Final Four begins on Friday, and the men’s Final Four begins on Saturday.

The first weekend of the Glimm Memorial came down to Otto versus Otter.

Otto Kern’s Ottomatic 1 had a perfect first day to jump to the lead in the first round of the NCAA tournament — but Otto couldn’t hold off Jack Otter’s OtterV 3.0 in the second round.

OtterV 3.0 correctly picked 13 of 16 games in the second round, including the big upset by Arkansas over St. John’s, to blow past Otto and into first place after the second round.

TJ Berka’s What Up Larsa Pippen? bracket nearly matched OtterV — Berka picked 14 of 16 games correctly, but missed out on the Arkansas upset and its bonus points.

At the end of the first weekend of play, OtterV3.0 was in first place with 70.5 points, What Up Larsa Pippen? was in second with 70, and Ottomatic was in third with 64.5.

In the women’s pool, Jeff Keating’s jkedit5 and Earl Camburn’s Paige Buckets (not to be confused with third-place Paige1) have both picked 89.6% of games correctly to jump to the lead, tied with 62 points. Paige Mordarski’s Paige1 trails by half a point.

Some GlimmBits:

• There are a few cool new tools available: An End Game Scenario page, which looks at all 32K+ scenarios remaining and tells you how in how many you can win, and a What If? calculator, where you can simulate the rest of the tournament and see if you’ll win. The tools are available for the men’s pool here and the women’s pool here.
  
• If anyone is in Sacramento, go and check on the Macht household and make sure Dan and Rosaleen are OK. Dan’s Hoopskillet bracket is in last place, and Rosaleen’s Harris Hoops is in second-to-last place. Something must be wrong with that Sac-town water.
  
• Clare Bear Kern’s 63 points leads the Kids Championship, and is good enough for fourth place overall in the men’s pool. In the women’s pool, Eli Rosenberg’s Eliskul32 holds a half-point lead over Sydney Kwarta’s Sydney Hummingbirds .
  
• Are you sure you’ve paid? There are still a good amount of stragglers. Check out the men’s and women’s payment trackers — if you’re listed on the ‘have not paid’ list, please either venmo me your entry fee and let me know if it’s a mistake. 
  
• Enjoy this breather over the next few days, then buckle up: Games resume on Thursday for the men and Friday for the women. 

We’re well into Day 1 of the 2025 Glimm Memorial men’s tournament, and we’ve got some interesting Glimmbits to share:

• We have 286 brackets from 155 people in the men’s pool this year.
  
• The standings are available here. The kids standings are here. The Glimm Family standings are here. 
  
• Twenty-two different teams were picked to win it all. The most popular was Duke (21.3%). Four teams were picked in just one bracket: Colorado State, Alabama St / St. Francis, Texas Tech and Purdue.
  
• Yes, that means the first person has lost their champion. Diane Davis Otter’s Olives 2 bracket is an early contender for the pity prize: Diane had Alabama St / St. Francis over Montana in the championship game. Both lost today.
  
• Don’t remember who you picked? Go to the standings page and find your bracket (or anyone else’s, for that matter). All of the entry names are clickabile, so you can check out brackets.
  
• We’ve got 19 entries in the Kids competition this year. We’ll also have a Kids competition in the women’s pool for the first time this year. 
  
• Speaking of the women’s competition, it’s not too late to get a bracket in! Games start at 11 a.m. tomorrow, so you have until then to get your bracket in. Right now, we have 62 brackets from 52 people in the women’s pool. That means more than 100 of you have NOT yet entered the women’s pool. It’s not too late!
  
• The new software seems to be working well so far, but there are definitely some bugs. The biggest I’ve found: The ‘Final Four’ teams on the standings page are not correct. The champion and finalists listed are right, but that last column that shows the teams you picked to lose in the Final Four is wrong. I may get around to fixing that this weekend, or it may just stay that way through the tournament. This is only on desktop – that column doesn’t show if you’re looking at your phone.
  
• And for the late games tonight … Go Blue!!!
  

OK boys and girls, it’s that time of the year: The Glimm is here!

It’s the NCAA tournament pool you know and love. We’ll have men’s and women’s pools. The men’s pool has the Orlov, the Kids Championship and the Glimm Family Scholarship. The entry fee is still $5, just like it was back in 1993 (take that, inflation!). We’ve got upset points, 70/20/10 winning split and last-place money back.

But there is something new this year. After YEARS of using the same software to power the Glimm, I’m migrating to a new system. This one is a bit of a Frankenstein: I found an old PHP/SQL bracket app online, and modified the code to make it work for the Glimm.

For the most part, I’ve worked to replicate the functionality we had on the old system, while adding a few things. So what’s new? It’s entirely web based, which makes the workflow a bit easier on my end (no more breaking out the 8-year-old Windows laptop that I use for the Glimm and nothing else). Most of the key reports (standings, etc.) are now responsive, so you can read them more easily on your phone. It has some cool simulations you can do once we get to the Sweet 16. And most importantly, because I control the code, I can build on what we have in future years – so give me your suggestions!

Here are the key Glimm details:

WHAT: The 33rd Annual Glimm Memorial NCAA Basketball Tournament Pool

HOW: Fill out a men’s bracket here, and/or a women’s bracket here (women’s bracket will be available later tonight), then send me $5 per bracket via venmo (username @Josh-Kleinbaum). IMPORTANT: When sending money, be sure to specify what bracket (entry name and men’s or women’s pool) you’re paying for. I’m also requesting your Venmo handle, so if you don’t pay by the end of the first weekend, I can send you a request.

HOW MUCH: Five bucks per entry for each pool. And yes, you can enter more than once (but no more than five times per pool, thanks to the Nevin Barich rule).

THE PAYOUT: In both pools, the winner gets 70% of the pot, runner-up 20% and third-place person 10%.  To give some context, the winner has taken home north of $1K in some years. There are a few other prizes in the men’s pool, too: The Orlov (whoever finishes exactly middle of the pack gets their $5 back, in cash, via snail mail), the Glimm Scholarship (the highest-finishing relative of Mrs. Glimm from the previous year gets a free entry), the Kids Champion (the top finisher under Bar Mitzvah age; details below) and the Pity Finisher (the last-place finisher gets his/her $5 back). On top of that, thirty bucks comes out of the pot to pay for Glimm infrastructure, and I give myself 2 free entries.

SCORING: For both pools, it’s a 1-2-4-8-12-16 scoring system with upset points. So that means that you get one point for picking a game correctly in the first round, two points in the second round, etc. And we use upset points – any time a lower-seeded team beats a higher-seeded team, you get half the difference between the seeds as bonus points. So if a 15 beats a 2, you get 6.5 bonus points. If a 9 beats an 8, you get half a point. The bottom line: It pays to take risks.

KIDS CHAMPION: Any kid under Bar Mitzvah age that enters the Glimm men’s pool (and makes their own picks – this isn’t about mommy or daddy submitting an entry under baby’s name) is also eligible to win the Kids Championship. Like the Glimm Scholarship (awarded to the top finisher related to Mrs. Glimm), the Kids Champion will receive a free entry to the next year’s Glimm. When filling out their bracket, kids should choose YES in the Kids Bracket drop-down. We’ll see how many kids enter to determine if there will be a kids championship in the women’s pool…

HOW TO PAY: Venmo (username @Josh-Kleinbaum). IMPORTANT: When sending money, be sure to specify which brackets in which pool you’re paying for. This year, I’m asking for your venmo handle in the bracket. If I don’t receive payment by the end of the first weekend of the tourney, I will send you a Venmo request.

In the early 2000s, the Daily News was LA’s little paper that could. Covering the San Fernando Valley under the shadow of the much larger LA Times, the DN thrived thanks to a talented staff that took pride in telling the story of the Valley.

Ramona Shelburne was a young sports writer on that staff. Brian Martin was a news editor. Your Glimm commissioner started as a crime reporter before becoming the paper’s first online editor.

In the decades since, as the paper’s staff shriveled with the newspaper industry, some stayed and some moved on. 

Shelburne moved on: She has emerged as one of the country’s preeminent basketball reporters. She’s an NBA Insider for ESPN. She hosts a radio show, has had her reporting turned into a movie, and (most importantly) is a member of the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. 

Martin took a different route, staying at the Daily News for the duration. He moved from the News to the sports department, and led the paper’s MMA coverage while serving as deputy sports editor.

But for many one-time DN staffers, as we scattered to different industries and different parts of the country, there was one constant: The Glimm.

And this year, Daily Newsers Shelburne and Martin dominated.

In the men’s pool, both correctly picked UConn over Purdue for the championship. Those picks gave Shelburne 138 points, just enough to hold off Martin’s 137.5 (Martin’s point total tied Jerry Kleinbaum’s doctork bracket, but took second place on the tie breaker).

Shelburne’s victory makes her the third two-time Glimm champion, joining Erik Boal (2007-08) and Kelly Bohling (2022-23).

Martin’s near miss robbed him of an unprecedented double: While he finished second in the men’s pool, he won the women’s title, correctly picking 82.5% of the games, including champion South Carolina and runner-up Iowa. His 149.5 points was well ahead of second-place Jon Lloyd (137) and Kelly Bohling (142). 

The Daily News Duo topped the list of Glimm winners:

KIDS CHAMPION: First-time Glimmer Nicholas Fabozzi finished in fourth place with his Nicky Fab bracket, just outside of the money. But that was good enough to clinch the Kids Championship, earning a scholarship to the 2025 Glimm.

The Orlov: An award named for another longtime Daily News staffer, the late great Rick Orlov, goes to Jack Otter, whose 86.5 points put him in 133rd place – dead middle. In honor of Rick Orlov, Jack will get his $5 back — sent as cash via snail mail, with a handwritten note.

The Glimm Family Scholarship: Richard Lester, son-in-law of Glimm namesake Marion Glim, finished in 51st place — but he was the top finisher of Glimm family members. He wins the Glimm Family Scholarship to the 2025 Glimm.

Final men’s standings are here, and final women’s standings are here. We’ll see you back here next year! 

A more complete update is coming, but is slowed down by an ill-timed nasty cold. Instead, a quick update on your winners:

Men’s Glimm: Ramona Shelburne
Women’s Glimm: Brian Martin
Kids Championship: Nicholas Fabozzi
The Orlov: Jack Otter
The Glimm Scholarship: Rich Lester

If you look at Jerry Kleinbaum’s performance in the Glimm the past few years, one thing jumps out: He’s never really been competitive. Since 2016 (which is as far back as Glimm archives go), he’s never cracked the top 25 — and his brackets were usually closer to the bottom three than the top three.

So what happened this year?

“I got lucky,” he said.

Jerry’s approach this year was to pick some crazy teams to reach the Final Four: NC State and Alabama. Somehow, they both did it. Add in UConn, and he was the only person in the Glimm to pick three of the Final Four teams correctly.

As a result, Jerry’s Doctork bracket sits atop the Glimm standings entering the Final Four.

Kleinbaum’s 109.5 points slipped ahead of Glimm newcomer Nicholas Fabozzi, aka Nicky Fab. But Nicky Fab and Doctor K have the same picks in the Final Four, which means Nicky can’t catch the doctor.

The Ferguson Toilet, thanks to that perfect second round, rounds out the top three.

In the women’s bracket, longtime Glimmers Brian Martin (BMart) and Rachel Barenbaum (TheRunningRachel) kept pace throughout the past weekend – both scored 29 points in the third round, and 25 in the Elite Eight. Brian holds a slim two-point lead over Rachel. They both picked South Carolina and Iowa to reach the championship game, so it could come down to that game: Brian went with South Carolina to win it all, while Rach picked Iowa.

But Diane Otter (Capers) and Lauren Kimball (LK1) lurk: If UConn reaches the championship game, they both have a chance.

Other Glimmbits:

• While Nicky Fab can’t win the overall championship, he’s still earned a title in his debut Glimm: The Kids Championship. His 107 points is enough to clinch the Kids title, and earn the prestigious Kids Scholarship.
  
  Maverick Messick currently sits in second place in the Kids Tournament with 88.5 points, and Clayton Fowler IV is in third with 79.5.
  
  
• Richard Lester, Mrs. Glimm’s son-in-law, and Eli Lester, her grandson, are in a close battle for the Glimm Family Scholarship. In this father-son matchup, dad has a 6.5-point lead over son, but son could pull ahead with if Purdue does better than UConn in the Final Four.
  
  
• Asa Kleinbaum spent most of the weekend celebrating his Glimm victory — his Skibidi bracket clinched last place in the women’s pool, so he’ll get the Pity Prize. He was ecstatic about this — frequently pointing out to his older sister’s that he’s the only one in the family to get any money out of the Glimm. Next year, he said, he might try to get them ALL wrong.
  
  
• With three games to play, nine people have a chance at finishing in the money in the men’s pool, and 12 in the women’s pool. Does that include you? Head over to theglimm.com to find out.
  
  If you click on the men’s or women’s standings, then choose ‘What If Scenarios’, you can see the standings for all eight possible outcomes – so you can figure out your best finish, and if you have a chance at finishing in the money.

• The Orlov is still wide open. As you should know, the Orlov goes to whoever finishes in exactly the middle of the standings – this year, that’s 133rd place. This is in honor of the late longtime Glimmer Rick Orlov. With three games remaining, 27 Glimmers still have a shot at the Orlov — it could very well come down to the tiebreaker.
  
  
• The women’s Final Four begins on Friday, with the championship game on Sunday, and the men’s Final Four begins on Saturday, with the championship game on Monday.
  
  
• A few of you still owe your Glimm entry fee – if that includes you, please send it to me ASAP.

In Mexico, the NCAA tournament doesn’t seem to be a big deal. Tennis and soccer were often on the television in the bars and restaurants we visited. College basketball? Not so much. Clearly, not enough people around here have been exposed to the Glimm.

Other than that, the past week has been just about paradise for your Glimm commissioner: Gorgeous beaches, amazing sunsets, delicious food, and terrific company. The Taco Tour of downtown Puerto Vallarta was a highlight (best birria tacos I’ve ever had), as was boogie boarding in the Pacific Ocean with the kids.

The point of all of this? You’re not getting a full-blown Glimm update. Just some bullet points to keep you engaged as we enter the Elite Eight:

• We have a new leader in the men’s pool. Nicholas Fabozzi’s Nicky Fab bracket picked five of the Elite Eight teams correctly, good enough to slip past the Ferguson Toilet by half a point. Nicky Fab sits at 87.5 points, and Jason Eckerling’s Ferguson Toilet is at 87.
  
• After a perfect Sweet 16, the Ferguson Toilet crashed back to Earth in the third round, missing five of the eight games. Penny Kowitt’s PK – 1 rounds out the top three with 85 points.

• In the women’s pool, Lauren Kimball continues to steamroll through the competition. Her LK3 bracket is in first place with 75 points, ahead of her LK 2 bracket (73.5). Brian Martin (BMart) and Gene Warnick (Gene W.) are tied for third with 72.5.
  
• The first prize of the Glimm has been claimed: Avery Sweet’s sussyimposter bracket won the Pity Prize in the men’s pool. Avery picked just 39% of the games right, and didn’t get a game beyond the second round. That was good enough to clinch last place.
  
• The Pity Prize in the women’s pool, however, is still up for grabs. Asa Kleinbaum was actively rooting against LSU, his last team alive, this morning. LSU won, but Asa’s bracket is done – which means, even though his skibidi bracket sits in 49th place out of 53, he still has a chance. In his mind, he’s already converted that $5 to Robux.
  
• One behind Asa in the women’s pool? His grandfather, Jerry Kleinbaum. But despite being in 50th place there, he’s surging in the men’s pool: His DoctorK bracket had the most impressive performance in the Sweet Sixteen. He picked six of the eight games correctly, including Alabama and NC State, good enough to jump to fourth place overall. He’s the only Glimmer with all four Final Four teams still alive.
  
• The third round of the women’s tournament is happening right now, and the men’s Elite Eight begins later tonight. As always, theglimm.com is your home for the latest updates.

The story of the Ferguson Toilet begins with a ride in a truck heading to the Ferguson factory in Maine. Al Bundy, then a child, had to use the bathroom. His father wouldn’t stop.

Hold it in, Al — for two hours! — and it will be worth it. Why? Because you’ll get to do your business on a Ferguson.

And it was.

“Bud, the toilets of today aren’t worthy of the name. They come in designer colors and they’re too low. And when you flush them, they make this little weak, almost apologetic sound. Not the Ferguson. It only comes in white. And when you flush it, ‘BA-WOOSH’. That’s a man’s flush, Bud. A Ferguson says, ‘I’m a toilet. Sit down and give me your best shot’.”

To Al, the Ferguson was the Stradivarius of toilets, king of the bowls.

Why am I sharing this? Because over the weekend, we experienced the Glimm’s Ferguson. Jason Eckerling submitted a bracket called the Ferguson Toilet, and it lived up to its name. This was a man’s bracket, Bud. It said, “I’m a bracket. Sit down and give me your best shot.”

Eckerling’s best shot: A perfect 16-for-16 in the second round of the men’s NCAA tournament, good enough to jump to first place in the Glimm.

This is the perfect toilet.

Full men’s standings are here, and full women’s standings are here.

Other GlimmBits:

• The Ferguson Bracket was good enough to beat out the husband/wife pair of Dan Macht and Rosaleen Ortiz. Eckerling’s Toilet bracket sits at 74.5 points, with Macht’s HoopSkillet at 68 and Ortiz’s RosieTheWiggler at 65.5.
  
• Ramona Shelburne, who led after the first round, correctly picked just eight second-round games and fell to seventh place.
  
• Lauren Kimball holds both first and second place in the women’s pool, with Gene Warnick playing catch-up in third.
  
• The pity money in both pools remains up for grabs, but Owen Lester currently holds pole position in the men’s pool, and Jerry Kleinbaum in the women’s.
  
• Maverick Messick continues to lead the Kids Championship with 63 points. Maverick is in 10th place overall.
  
• The second round of the women’s tournament resumes today, while the men take a break until Thursday, when the Sweet Sixteen begins. As always, visit theglimm.com for the latest.
  

The key to success in the Glimm, especially the early rounds, is picking the upsets. The challenge is picking the right ones — without sacrificing too many later-round picks.

In the first round of the men’s tournament, Ramona Shelburne nailed it. Shelburne correctly picked seven double-digital seeds to win their first-round games, including Grand Canyon, Yale and James Madison. And she still has 15 of her Sweet 16 teams live.

The upsets propelled Shelburne to the top of the Glimm standings for the first time since 2009, when she won the whole thing. Shelburne’s 48 points give her a narrow lead over Maverick Messick’s MaverickOregonDucks (47 points), Rosaleen Ortiz’s RosieTheWiggler (45 points) and Jordan Brenner’s Brenner1 (45 points). 

Of note: Maverick Messick also leads the Kids Championship standings. 

In the women’s pool, Liz Crazo (Barbenhammer) and Brian Martin (BMart) were tied for first with 16.5 points after one day of play, followed by Rose Varley (rose), Mike Lazarus (lazarus) and Gene Warnick (Gene W.), all with 15.5 points.

Other GlimmBits:

* The big upsets dealt a blow to many brackets in the men’s pool: Ten brackets had Kentucky winning it all, and eight had Auburn. South Carolina and Vermont, both picked to win it all in a single bracket, also fell (sorry Stephanie!).  On the women’s side, everyone still has their champion alive.

* I mentioned earlier that Glimm updates might be a bit less frequent this year thanks to spring break, which was met with some disappointment. To close that gap, we’re accepting guest essays! The idea is simple: I’ll write a short update, which would be followed by something of more substance written by one of you — something about this year’s pool, inspiration for your picks, a favorite moment from Glimm history, an in-depth analysis on your favorite bracket names, whatever floats your boat. Don’t be shy – write something up and send it my way!

* We have 53 entries in the women’s Glimm this year, which I believe is a new record. 

* One correction and one update from my Thursday note. 

The correction: In my By the Numbers roundup, I mentioned that there were two entries submitted by people other than Evan Kwarta with names related to Evan’s bowel movements. In fact, there are three. Apologies, Jason Eckerling, for not properly recognizing your Bowl Wrapper reference.

The update: Defending Glimm kids champion Rose Varley did, in fact, age out of the youth tourney. Now, Rose only gets to complete with us old folk.

* Speaking of the Kids Championship, we have 17 kids competing for the title this year. Maverick Messick has a 10-point lead over second-place Nicholas Fabozzi (NIcky Fab). Members of the Kern family round out the top five: Grace, Tommy and Mimi and Alice. 

* We have seven entries by Glimm family members, competing for the Glimm Scholarship. Eli Lester, Mrs. Glimm’s grandson, currently leads that group. 

* A bunch of you still have to get your entry fee in. If that includes you, venmo me at @Josh-Kleinbaum (8501 last four digits, if prompted). 

* The second round begins for the men at 12:45pm ET today, and the women’s first round continues at Noon ET. As always, check out theglimm.com for the latest.