With the benefit of hindsight, I should have seen this coming.

Last month, I asked Saratoga County supervisors to fill out NCAA Tournament brackets.

I figured it'd be a fun way to foster some competition between the supervisors, who were vying for bragging rights. I used the bracket I'd done the day before as a barometer and gave an extra bracket to County Administrator Spencer Hellwig.

Wouldn't you know it? We, the only two entrants who weren't Saratoga County supervisors, finished 1-2. Actually, Hellwig beat me on the final day of the tournament because he selected Kentucky over Kansas in the National Championship. They just put the finishing touches on a 67-59 win.

I had KU over UK, which is just about as close as I could have gotten without actually winning.

The top finishers among supervisors were the three who picked Kentucky. They were Day's Mary Ann Johnson, Clifton Park's Anita Daly and Malta's Paul Sausville, who admitted he'd never filled out an NCAA bracket prior to last month. This calls for a celebratory anthem.



Here's the full order:

Scoring: 1st Round = 1 point; 2nd Round = 2 points; Sweet 16 = 4 points; Elite Eight = 8 points; Final Four = 16 points; National Championship = 32 points.

1. Spencer Hellwig, County Administrator
Score: 130 (First round 20, Second round 9, Sweet Sixteen 3, Elite Eight 2, Final Four 2, Championship 1)

2. Michael Cignoli, The Saratogian
Score: 122 (22, 10, 6, 3, 2, 0)

3. Mary Ann Johnson, Day
Score: 115 (19, 10, 5, 1, 1, 1)

4. Anita Daly, Clifton Park

Score: 106 (16, 9, 4, 2, 1, 1)

5. Paul Sausville, Malta

Score: 103 (17, 5, 3, 2, 1, 1)

6. Art Johnson, Wilton
Score: 93 (21, 10, 4, 1, 1, 0)

7. Jack Lawler, Waterford
Score: 85 (17, 10, 4, 1, 1, 0)

8. Thomas N. Wood III, Saratoga
Score: 62 (20, 13, 4, 0, 0, 0)

9. Alan Grattidge, Charlton
Score: 51 (21, 9, 3, 0, 0, 0)

10. Phil Barrett, Clifton Park
Score: 44 (20, 8, 2, 0, 0, 0)

11. Matthew Veitch, Saratoga Springs
Score: 39 (19, 6, 2, 0, 0, 0)

12. Jean Raymond, Edinburg
Score: 35 (19, 6, 1, 0, 0, 0)

I share a life philosophy with fictional race car driver Ricky Bobby – if you ain't first, you're last – so I'm a little disappointed with my late collapse. No worries, though. At least I beat the supervisors.

How'd you guys do? Let me know.

Until next time,
MC