More upsets in Elite Eight action as the competitor who had become favored to win it all goes down in defeat. The four survivors of today’s competition have a long weekend to rest and strategize before next week’s final two decisive rounds!
East: (2) @joshuafoust vs. (12) @stcolumbia
Judges: 2-2 (50% of judges’ votes each)
Popular vote:
@stcolumbia: 160 (64%)
@joshuafoust: 91 (36%)
A judges’ split leaves this one in the hands of the public, where once again 12 seed @stcolumbia shows an advantage, advancing to the Final Four.
South: (1) @dandrezner vs. (2) @BlakeHounshell
Judges: 2-2 (50% of judges’ vote each)
Popular vote:
@dandrezner: 167 (60%)
@BlakeHounshell: 113 (40%)
Another judges’ split, and the final one seed left in the competition advances to Monday’s competition.
North: (3) @will_mccants vs. (12) @smsaideman
Judges: 4-0 for @will_mccants (100% of judges’ vote)
Popular vote:
@will_mccants: 159 (64%)
@smsaideman: 89 (36%)
A great competitive run comes to an end as @will_mccants takes the judges’ votes and the popular vote to eliminate @smsaideman.
West: (2) @texasinafrica vs. (4) @jeffemanuel
Judges: 3-1 for @jeffemanuel (75% of judges’ vote)
Popular vote:
@texasinafrica: 268 (51%)
@jeffemanuel: 262 (49%)
A celebrity endorsement by the man they call the Man They Call Jayne ends up being the difference in this match, as it tips at least one judge away from popular-vote winner @texasinafrica. A very active voting day for both contestants ends with a victory for @jeffemanuel.
The Final Four will be contested Monday, with (12) seed @stcolumbia taking on (3) seed @will_mccants and (1) seed @dandrezner facing off against (4) seed @jeffemanuel for spots in Tuesday’s Championship round. Be on the lookout this weekend for an announcement of next week’s judging panels as well as an update on the bracket pool scoring!
Now for the judges’ ballots:
@azelin
In the morning I asked the Elite Eight participants why I should vote for them. Half did not answer. Seriously?! The Elite Eight and you’re not pandering. I digress…
@stcolumbia v. @joshuafoust:
I usually root for the underdogs, but in this case I have to go with @joshuafoust. Not only does he provide fierce commentary and get in epic Twitter battles, but he also shows awesome pictures of food he cooks, which I wish I could always eat. If this was a blog competition @stcolumbia may have had a shot, but this is Twitter Fight Club. Enjoy the final four @joshuafoust.
@dandrezner v. @blakehounshell:
Neither of these old curmudgeons decided to pander to me. Points taken away from @dandrezner for not even following me. I like @dandrezner’s tweets, but I’m simply a Middle East/North Africa guy whereas he focuses on IR/Poli Sci type stuff. Have to back the MENA folks. As such, @blakehounshell I send you to the Final Four (also, when am I getting my own FP blog?).
@smsaideman v. @will_mccants:
This was easily the best fight of the day. Some real virtual punches were thrown. At the height they were arguing about what role they would have in my future book (as a reviewer or blurber). Much of the contest saw @smsaideman on the defensive. Further, @smsaideman was not following me until today, which although is some good pandering I feel it was already too late. Cinderella has to end at some point, which is why I go with the beard and Islamicist vote for Mr. Jihad @will_mccants. Plus @will_mccants owned the “legal” expert Gossip Girl earlier in the week.
@jeffemanuel v. @texasinafrica:
I had originally given the win to @texasinafrica for pandering well, dropping knowledge, and since she defeated me and I wanted her to carry on since it would give my loss more cred. Then in a late hail mary @jeffemanuel gets the win with a huge celebrity endorsement: @adamsbaldwin. What the Chuck?! Yeah, that just happened. Way to pull out all the stops, @jeffemanuel!
Winter is coming…”
@brianfishman
It’s too bad that defeated contestants in March Madness do not go on to referee future rounds. It might increase sportsmanship, as contestants would have an incentive to cultivate their defeated foes. On the other hand, the specter of a defeated opponent serving as a judge has not reduced the rancor in #TFC2012. Are the stakes too low? Too high? Maybe decorum would break down even further if these rules were not in place? I don’t know, but it sounds like a thesis for some Game Theory obsessed blogger.
On to the judging, which I only agreed to do after being assured my decisions could be utterly arbitrary.
@joshuafoust v. @stcolumbia
@stcolumbia is the only contestant in the Elite Eight that I was not already following, which either speaks to his poverty as a contestant, or mine as a judge. Guess which one I’m going with? On the other hand, he defeated @abuaardvark, albeit partly because he was trying to throw the contest, but still. Defeating perhaps the overall number one is no small accomplishment. On the other hand, we have @joshuafoust, a prolific tweeter on all sorts of issues, only some of which I care about. Truffles and pugs simply don’t get me going. Still, he’s antagonistic, and I like that. Winner, @joshuafoust. @stcolumbia, come back when you’re in graduate school.
@dandrezner v. @blakehounshell
This one is surprisingly easy for me. @blakehounshell is one of my favorite twitter feeds. I actually learn things here and that’s the point. Plus, @blakehounshell seems to reflect flesh and blood Blake Hounshell. (I can picture that avatar chain smoking cigarettes on L Street.) Despite my immense respect for @dandrezner’s work on zombies, the tweets jump around a bit too much for my taste. @blakehounshell wins.
@will_mccants v. @smsaideman
Normally I would just vote against @smsaideman on principle; he being Canadian and all. But in this case there are compelling reasons to vote against @will_mccants, namely his work with the beard mafia early in the tournament, a cabal of Bond-villains that included the @tweetsintheme, who vanquished me from this tournament. Plus he tweeted that video of me in the Fat Boy Slim video. In the end, though, this has to be a protest vote against @ggreenwald. Man knows enough about terrorism to be the teacher’s pet on the first day in an Intro to Terrorism class and runs around stating the obvious like the ideas are new…all the while denigrating everyone that actually showed up to class the second day. With apologies to @smsaideman, who never had a fair shot here, I regretfully go with @will_mccants, whose beard chauvinism is not so obnoxious as @ggreenwald.
@texasinafrica v. @jeffemanuel
@texasinafrica only followed me today. Poor form, though she did come on strong by offering a bribe of scotch. (She’d have done better offering tequila.) I don’t know anything about Jeff Emanuel (or scotch), but based on @jeffemanuel, I think I’d like him. So that’s a good start. @texasinafrica is awfully useful for me though, because her expertise adds a lot of value. I don’t know much about sub-saharan politics. She does, and I learn things. But you’ve got love @jeffemanuel’s resigned support for Mitt Romney. He embodies the frustrated conservative, but politely and without all the exclamation points. Plus, his avatar is better. In a close one, I go with @jeffemanuel.
@peterjmunson
Today’s Elite 8 deathmatch was a well-played contest. These professionals pretty much did what they do every day – not too much in the way of gimmicks or attack tactics. Unfortunately for me, there weren’t any serious attempts to win over the judge. What is more, I’m not overwhelmed with wit right now, so I’ll get right into it.
@joshuafoust (2) vs. @stcolumbia (12)
Both of these gentlemen are smart tweeters and bloggers, strong and informed in their opinions. Joshua Foust does this as a professional wonk, Dan Trombly does this as a student, meaning that this is not really a sideline gig for either, but the handicap tilts the field slightly in favor of the undergrad. Foust took the edge on edginess in his interactions, but Trombly seemed to engage more substantively and to take the advantage on substance and volume. I’m looking forward to seeing where he goes after he graduates.
Victor: @stcolumbia
@dandrezner (1) vs. @blakehounshell (2)
This was a not-particularly bloody battle between two heavyweights. Honestly, you would barely have known there was a fight on, except for Drezner getting the Fletcher mafia tweet. They did what they do every day, which is put out a lot of relevant information and links. Follow both. Tough call but…
Victor: @dandrezner
@will_mccants (3) vs. @smsaideman (12)
This, in my opinion, was the best-fought and most interesting match-up. I am not sure if I want to give Saideman a handicap advantage for continuing to Tweet while on vacation or to penalize him to participate in what one of my friends called “the lamest thing I’ve ever heard of” while on vacation. His tweets on butter beer, capes, and the like, though, were a refreshing break in my Twitter feed. I also appreciated his attempts to suck up, however he was a step behind McCants.
Will McCants started the fight off with a strategic coup, claiming to have my book Iraq in Transition on his nightstand, while also touting a Cleveland connection (my town). I was happy that he pushed out a link on the book to 3,816 followers, but didn’t really believe him. I called him out on it during an afternoon tweet calculated to hit more of an audience and he actually produced a picture of my book on his nightstand. In all, the fight was good-heartedly nasty, with insults and compromising pictures slung back and forth. In this, I really want to vote for Saideman, the underdog who spent the day on vacation with his family, but I have to say that McCants brought the game. Follow both of them, but…
Victor: @will_mccants
@texasinafrica (2) vs. @jeffemanuel (4)
This was another contest of relatively quiet professionals. Jeff Emanuel handily defeated me in round 1, but I held no grudge and noted that he was quick to get in an RT on my shameless request for followers from the Elite 8 contestants on Wednesday night. He is a prolific tweeter and retweeter, plus he acknowledged the contest with a number of well timed self-promotion tweets asking for votes.
Laura Seay (@texasinafrica) is relatively new to me because I don’t focus on Africa. It seemed, though, that she offers a lot of good material that is not as easy to find as the never-ending tales of woe in the Middle East that I follow. She did offer several times to suck up, but didn’t seize the initiative creatively like McCants did in the other bout. An early #FridayFollow was a nice touch.
Overall, the edge goes to Emanuel for self-promotion, tweet volume, and the legion of loyal followers that spread the word to vote for him.
Victor: @jeffemanuel
@zackbeauchamp
Twitter Fight Club judging has the highest aspirations towards honor, impartiality and intellectual rigor. The sacred trust put in the judge to ascertain the truth approximates our highest ideals of our justice system. We are, in short, Henry Fonda:
What this video tells you about…aww, fuck it. Twitter Fight Club judges are actually more like this:
With pretensions and self-regard entirely shattered, let’s move on to the actual matchups – all of which were unfortunately fantastic. I say “unfortunately” because instead of being able to spend five minutes thinking and an hour writing a terribly nasty decision about how one of these tweeps fails at life and should probably pursue a career in the lucrative adult movie theater janitorial field, I had to make actual, fairish decisions. Ah, well. Bear in mind my judging criteria while you read these:
(2) @joshuafoust vs. (12) @stcolumbia
So the two people I’ve probably fought the most on Twitter, and I can only send home one of them this week? What is this, Flavor of Love?
Nah, they’re both great, and I’m genuinely sorry to have to decide. @joshuafoust was, despite being a higher seed, forced to fight an uphill battle, because @stcolumbia spends so damn much time putting stuff out there that even someone as prolific and entertaining as @joshuafoust is in a tough place. While one might get the impression from that comment that @stcolumbia’s feed is something like this:
It’s actually chock full of intellectual goodness, entertaining fighting, and historical knowledge-dropping. To overcome the barrage, @joshuafoust probably needed to match it in quantity or pick a fight with someone (as is his wont) and take a decisive victory. Unfortunately, @joshuafoust decided to pick yesterday to start kicking his pugilism habit. @stcolumbia advances.
(1) @dandrezner vs. (2) @blakehounshell
One would assume the battle of Foreign Policy honchos would have had the same effect on the blocks of DC surrounding the offices as the alien weapon in Independence Day did:
And yet the city stands. Aside from a (poorly) veiled threat to destroy @dandrezner’s blog, this fight was extraordinarily civilized. Not only did both spend the day tweeting interesting articles and having it out with their followers, but each even urged me to vote for the other one. Tough.
But in the end, this one’s gotta got to @dandrezner. Not only did he hit two of my pet topics by flagging an article that uses Game of Thrones to point out realism’s descriptive deficiencies, but he engaged in more of the sort of sustained arguments/conversations/snarkfests that makes Twitter a place for fight clubs than @blakehounshell. So Dan, enjoy your victory with a song (that you tweeted):
(2) @texasinafrica vs. (4) @jeffemanuel
On almost every metric, this was a perfectly matched fight. Both tweeters developed interesting ideas, found interesting articles, engaged in interesting arguments with other tweeps, and demonstrated the highest respect for each other. Awesome, but also hard for me.
But then I remembered – I promised that pandering would be tiebreaker in tough cases. And boy, did @texasinafrica pander, while @jeffemanuel oddly seemed to care about his dignity. She made many, many, many promises, but the one I’ll take her up on is babysitting my niece and nephew. The shirt I’m wearing that Friday night:
(3) @willmccants vs. (12) @smsaideman
Hands down today’s best-fought match, with both sides making excellent use of clever barbs and judge pandering. To be honest, either of them probably would have beaten any of the other remaining contestants with these performances. But – there can be only one.
By a hair’s edge, it’s @will_mccants. I was all set to vote for @will_mccants at the outset of deliberation – his promise to back me all the way next year nearly won it on promising me #TFC13 and giving me credit for all my boss’ work went a long way – but reviewing their feeds side-by-side, the two tie on arguing with each other, pandering (Whedon tweets!), and all-around hilarity, but Steve just barely, barely spend more time than Will on argument on natsec substance. I swung my vote.
Then I remembered the trap Will baited Steve into about the bizarre pronunciation of my last name. A thing of strategic beauty that played brilliantly on Steve’s background – it just couldn’t go unrewarded. But congratulations to both on a fight well fought – it was like this, only exactly as awesomely nerdy:
