Well, we've finally got all the votes tallied and the bracket put together. Last week, we nominated, nominated, and nominated some more. Now, we have the 52 person bracket, including people from a variety of sports. And some that never played any sports at all. We tried to best follow the recommendations of you, the reader, in selecting the entrants and seeding the people. Then, we tried to spread ALLLLL the football players out so that they didn't overwhelm everybody. We'll see if football is king this year.
You can see the full bracket here.
The Tournament starts tomorrow, so get your voting fingers ready! We'll induct the Final Four PLUS two wildcards. Please note that Jill Costello and Brent Woodall have been automatically added to CGB Hall Of Fame.
After the jump, let's take a closer look at the bracket. We break it down section by section analyzing the bracket overall. Leave your thoughts on the people or matchups that interest you in the comments. GO BEARS!
Pete Newell Bracket
A lot of interesting stuff here. First, Robert O. Briggs, the late marching band director makes his CGB HoF debut. He is taking on Sean Dawkins. Go Briggs Go! Volleyball player Carli Lloyd rocketed to the top grabbing a #2 seed in this bracket. She'll probably take on Shane Vereen in the second round.
We tried to spread out all the football players throughout the brackets. Football is the most popular sport and the most entrants in the tournament are footballers. We wanted to try to balance the wishes of the readership while also creating a bracket that would not be football heavy by round two. In this section, there are a few football-football matchups. That will allow other non-football players the opportunity to make it to the next round.
Or perhaps it will not matter and football is not king. Who knows? This seems like a well balanced bracket with a variety of people from differing backgrounds.
And one Sacramento Mayor!
Joe Kapp Bracket
Fans still love Geoff MacArthur. Years after he last played for the Cal Bears, he was one of the most recd people in this whole system. Who can defeat MacArthur?
Perhaps an Olympic Gold medalist who has individual and team national US collegiate swimming titles? Yes, swimming superstud Nathan Adrian snags a #2 seed here.
Elsewhere in this bracket, we'll put football to the test as there is a football player in each matchup. Can Dick Reimann, owner of quintessential gameday restaurant Top Dog, knock off Hardy Nickerson, a great linebacker from the 80s? That will be an interesting matchup to keep an eye on.
Pappy Waldorf Bracket
Coach Ron Gould has never been nominated before. However, his streak of amazing running backs continues and he makes his first appearance here in the CGB HoF. He might take on Chancellor Lin-Tien in the second round. Although not an athlete, the Chancellor was very interested in athletics and took an active role in promoting Cal spirit. He is a newcomer also this year.
Jeff Kent had a surprisingly low showing this year, barely making the tournament as a 14 seed. An interesting situation is brewing in the top half of this section. Cameron Jordan is taking on Jahvid Best and one of the might take on Mike Mohamed. There is a chance that Tyson Alualu will take on Cameron Jordan. We tried to make that a larger possibility, but it was not to be. Such was the will of the readers, it would seem!
Last year, most of that great men's basketball Pac-10 championship team got nominated and made the cut. This year, solely Jerome Randle made it in. No Theo, no Jamal, not PatChris. How odd. Jerome has a #2 seed.
Brick Mueller Bracket
DeSean is back! Last year, he got upended in a stunning turn of events by controversial uber-scientist Glenn Seaborg. This year, he anchors the Brick Mueller bracket. The whole upper section there is mostly packed with footballers. So, we shall see if anybody up there can knock off DeSean. There is a chance DeSean, one of the best Cal recruits, could take on Tosh Lupoi, one of the best Cal recruiters. Lupoi is much beloved for his fierce DLines (several of his players are in the tourney!) and also his recruiting prowess (perhaps Gabe King will make his introduction to the hallowed hall).
In an interesting matchup, national sportswriter Mike Silver takes on volleyballer Hana Cutura. Silver is a great torch bearer on the national stage for our beloved Golden Bears. He is new to the tournament and we shall see how he fares this year.
Matt Biondi, also upended by the Seaborg juggernaut last year, tries again to make the Hall. This Moraga superstar has a #2 seed and is as likely as anybody else to knock off DeSean.
So, hope this spring is filled with interesting questions and delightful dilemmas. Leave your thoughts in the comments and look for the first matchups starting tomorrow. LET'S DO THIS THING!