Glimm champions run the gamut of basketball knowledge. Some know little about college basketball and barely follow the sport, like 2013 champ Adam Kleinbaum and the tournament’s namesake, 1995 champ Mrs. Glimm. Others are experts, spending careers watching sports, like 2009 champion Ramona Shelburne and 2007-08 two-time champ Erik Boal. Some fall in between, like last year’s champion, Nina Lin, who vacillates between claiming to know nothing about college basketball and claiming to be an expert.

Your 2019 champion falls closer to the expert category. Mike Lazarus has spent more than a decade managing sports products for Yahoo. For years, he did his own bracketology, predicting which teams would be included in the tournament and their exact seeds before the brackets were released. He knows his college basketball.

Lazarus finally converted that expertise into Glimm glory. Thanks to Virginia’s victory in yesterday’s NCAA championship game, Lazarus’ MikeLaz Bracket finished with 134 points, three points ahead of Sean Bear 1. Ottomatic #2, which would’ve finished in first place if Texas Tech beat Virginia, settled for third.

The loss was devastating to Ottomatic, aka Otto Kern, who was not just playing for himself but for the entire Kern klan. The Kern family has been a Glimm mainstay for years, as many Kerns followed Michigan alum Mike into the pool. Nine entered this year, including Otto, Mike’s father. No Kern has ever come close to winning the Glimm, but Otto picked Texas Tech on a whim, and the Red Raiders nearly carried him to the title.

The tightest race was for the Orlov, which is awarded to the 159th place finisher. Three brackets were tied for 158th, so it came down to whoever finished in second place in the tiebreaker. That ended up being Dan Stamm’s Woford and Buffalo bracket.

Richard Lester claimed the Glimm Scholarship for the second consecutive year when his Son-in-law bracket finished in 42nd place, best among all relatives of Mrs. Glimm. Lester will get a free entry to the 2020 Glimm.

And as for Nina Lin, the 2018 winner? Despite her vacilations, the evidence suggests she does know a thing or two about college basketball. She struggled in the later rounds, but overall, her It’s 5 p.m. Somewhere bracket picked 77.8% of the games correctly, tops in the entire pool.

Your 2019 Winners:
Glimm Champion: Mike Lazarus
Kids Champion: Brooklyn Rados
The Orlov: Dan Stamm
Glimm Scholarship Recipient: Richard Lester
Pity Finisher: Avery Sweet

Final standings:

Call in the Elimination Round. Entering the Sweet 16, 155 Glimmers hung onto hope of winning the Glimm Memorial NCAA Tournament Pool. Eight games letter, that number is down to 25. The chances of the other 130 fell with likes of North Carolina, Michigan and Tennessee.

And that includes Glimm commissioner Josh Kleinbaum. After leading the Glimm for most of the last week, the Sweet 16 was devastating to Kleinbaum’s Tim Whatley bracket. He lost three of his Final Four teams and fell to 7th place, and his Glimm drought will continue.

Rising to first place is 2016 champ Kate Lord, whose Go To Hell Dook 5 bracket has 97 points. That bracket is the only in the top 10 to still have all Final Four teams still alive.

Lord is just ahead of Sean Ceglinsky (96.5 points), My Biased Purdue Bracket (Mike Perugini, 94), Fear the Turtle (Nelson Hsu, 93.5), It’s 5 p.m. Somewhere (defending champ Nina Lin, 93.5) and 3-0 (Kevin Benham, 93.5). But the Elimination Round even hit this top group of six: Ceglinsky, Hsu and Lin can all finish in the money, but they can’t win the whole thing.

The longest of long shots still alive? That’s Jeff Keating’s jkedit2, in 137th place. But if Auburn beats Duke in the championship game, Jeff has a chance.

Over in the kids bracket, Brooklyn Rados’ TheDodgerFans bracket moved into first place 11th overall), ahead of Audrey Rosenberg (36th overall), Eden Lazarus’ Eden’s Bracket (47th), Quentin Sweet’s Qball (78th) and Emili Miller’s Poop on a sticky (116th).

The Elite Eight begins tonight.

The Leaderboard (full standings here):

Sure, when you look at los brackets de Jiffo, Jiffo Tres appears to be the Jiffo to watch. As we enter the third round of the NCAA tourney, Jason Kaden’s third bracket sits in second place, and a good bet to win the Glimm if Michigan State wins the tournament.

But scroll down, Constant Glimmer, and keep scrolling, scroll scroll scroll all the way to 312nd place, where you’ll find Jiffo Quatro. Jiffo Quatro doesn’t appear to be special, sitting six places from last with just 37 points.

But look closer! If the final 15 games fall just right — Virginia beats Texas Tech for the national championship, Virginia Tech and Auburn both reach the final four, a few other games go Jiffo’s way — and Jiffo Cuatro could be Numero Uno when the tournament ends.

Why do we share this now? Because 312th place Jiffo Quatro shows that todo es posible en El Glimm. In all, 225 Glimmers still have a chance at finishing in the money, and 166 Glimmers can win the championship.

Do you have a chance? You can find out easily enough: Check out the possible outcomes page to see where you stand.

Speaking of standings, let’s take a look at the standings for the Kids Championship, where competition is heating up. With 24 Glimmers in the running, Eden Lazarus’ Eden’s Bracket (13th overall) leads the way, 1.5 points ahead of Brooklyn Rados’ TheDodgersFans (21 overall).

Games resume at 7pm tomorrow.

Kids Championship standings (full standings here):

The Glimm started with black socks and baggy shorts, no-look passes and thunderous dunks and infectious swagger. It was 1992. I was in 8th grade. My sister was just accepted to the University of Michigan, and my first real introduction to college basketball was the Fab Five.  I was quickly hooked.

When March came around, I wanted others to share my newfound college basketball addiction, so I started an NCAA tourney pool. About 15 of my friends at Robert E. Bell Middle School joined. Naturally, I picked Michigan, a lowly #6 seed, to win it all. They didn’t – but their shocking run to the nationally championship game was enough to propel me to championship in the first ever Glimm Memorial (before it was named the Glimm Memorial, of course).

I haven’t won the Glimm since. I haven’t come close.

I share this Glimm history for a simple reason: To assure you that no, I am not cheating. If the Glimm was rigged all these years, I would have come up with a better plan than a 27-year gap since my last title. But in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, I picked 29 of 32 games correctly in my Tim Whatley bracket, putting me squarely in contention. 

I’m not in first place — Jason Kaden picked 26 of 32 games right in his Jiffo Tres bracket, but he  correctly picked the biggest upset of first round, UC Irvine over Kansas State, to move one point ahead of me. But entering the second round of the tournament, i’m in good position.

I’ve got competition, including from some Kids Championship contenders: Eden Lazarus’s Eden Bracket and Brooklyn Rados’ TheDodgersFan bracket are in third and fourth place. 2016 Glimm Champ Kate Lord (Go To Hell Dook 4) and Nelson Hsu (Fear the Turtle) are tied for fifth place.
While there haven’t been any MAJOR upsets, some Glimmers have already seen their brackets take big blows. Seven have lost their champion, 12 have lost their runner-up and 40 have lost at least one Final Four team. 

Only one person, though, has lost all four Final Four teams: Ben Berkowitz. His Dog Theory bracket (he picked all underdogs for the entire tournament) has him in 86th place, but with little room for improvement: Fifteen of his Sweet Sixteen picks have already lost. 

The second round begins at noon ET today, so be sure to check theglimm.com for updates throughout the afternoon.

The Leaderboard (click here for full standings):

The first two games are underway: Minnesota leads Louisville in the second half, and LSU is dominating Ivy League champ Yale. And you know what that means: The 2019 Glimm Memorial is officially underway, too.

Here’s what you need to know about Glimm 19:

• We have 318 entries this year, the most ever. That means assuming everyone pays (obligatory prompt: If you haven’t yet, venmo your $5/entry fee to @Josh-Kleinbaum now), the winner should take home just north of $1,000. Not too shabby.
• Of those, 24 are also competing for the Kids Championship, awarded to the top finishing Glimmer under Bar Mitzvah age. That includes the offspring of many longtime Glimmers, so there’s lots of familiar names — Millers and Machts, Rajus and Rosenbergs, Varleys, Rubinfelds and Kleinbaums and more.
• As usual, we have some good entry names. Some talk about their bracket (A Very Good Bracket and a Very Bad Bracket). Some give insight into the state of one’s marriage (ihopethesepicksbeatmywifes and IBeatMyHusband). Some address life (ball is life), and some address death (Not funny, Aron. A man died).
• About the picks: Not surprisingly, tournament favorite Duke is also the Glimm favorite, with 34% of you picking the Blue Devils to win. The three one seeds come right behind: Gonzaga (15%), Virginia (12%) and North Carolina (10%). The craziest championship picks? Abeline Christian and Farleigh Dickenson/Prarie View.

So prepare yourself for three weeks of madness, and remember to check back here for updates, standings and more.

Joanna should have been in bed, and she knew it. So when she walked into my bedroom in late October and handed me a note, she didn’t really say anything – she just stood there with a rebelious smile. Jo and her twin sister Stephanie liked to stay up late and write notes. It’s pretty cute for 7-year-olds.

The note itself was even cuter:

“Daddy – I made a deal with a friend at school. He votes for Penn State. If Michigan beats Penn State, he has to give me money. If Penn State beats Michigan, I have to give him money.”

MY GIRL MADE HER FIRST SPORTS BET!!!! I was so proud.

You want that same feeling? Well, here’s your chance: For the 2019 NCAA tournament, the Glimm is unveiling the Kids Championship, so all of you Glimmers with young kids can introduce your children to sports gambling*.

The rules are pretty simple: Any kids that enter the Glimm that are under B’nai Mitzvot age (under 13) will also compete for the Kids Championship, as long as the kid fills out the bracket him/herself. Sure, there can be a little help from mommy or daddy, but this isn’t about you submitting a bracket and putting your kid’s name on it. The kid makes the picks, even if his/her choices are based on colors, mascots or what state his favorite YouTubers live in (yes, that’s why Joanna has Utah State in the championship game). Just make sure that your kid puts a YES in the Kids Bracket field on the entry form.

The prize? The top-finishing kid in the Kids Bracket will be named Kids Champion, and receive a free entry to the Glimm next year. And maybe a certificate.

So click here to open a bracket, then hand your phone/computer to your kid and give him/her the chance to be a champion! Brackets are due by noon Thursday, full details in the post below this.

Oh, and that Michigan-Penn State game? Michigan won 42-7. JoJo not only made her first sports bet, but she won it. Let’s see if she can do as well in the Glimm.

*Fine Print: The Glimm is not gambling. You’re paying for three weeks of entertainment, and some people get a prize at the end. Repeat, this is not gambling.