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March Madness has officially arrived, and fans across the country will attempt to fill out the perfect bracket.
There are tons of ways people hope to achieve the coveted perfection, from in-depth analytics to simply picking favorite mascots.
In the case of The Gainesville Sun, I’ve decided to let my 3-year-old miniature dachshund, Humphrey, make the logical choices.
However, to raise the ante, I opted to enhance the challenge and see if I could do better than my dog. Needless to say, our brackets are drastically different.
Humphrey’s method for making picks was pretty straightforward — two plates with a treat were set out, each representing a different team and whichever one he ran to first was his choice.
My Final Four consists of Arizona, Duke, Iowa State, and Houston, while Humphrey’s features Florida, Kansas, Gonzaga, and a Cinderella run for No. 9-seeded St. Louis.
In the end, Humphrey’s national champion is Gonzaga, and mine is Arizona.
Yet Humphrey had no shortage of upsets, as there was plenty of madness in his bracket.
Penn and North Dakota State both made runs to the Elite Eight, while Queens reached the Sweet 16. Some notable early upsets included St. John’s losing to Northern Iowa, Idaho defeating Houston and High Point taking down Wisconsin.
Another surprise from Humphrey’s bracket was Duke losing to TCU in the Round of 32.
Unlike my dog, I didn’t have as many upsets, but I picked UCF over UCLA and Miami reaching the Sweet 16.
For the Florida fans that follow the Sun, Humphrey picked the Gators to win a rematch against Vanderbilt in the Sweet 16. I also made that pick, but unlike my loyal companion, I have the Gators falling to Houston in the Elite Eight.
In the end, only one of us will earn bragging rights — and if history tells me anything, I’m about to get humbled by an 11-pound hot dog with legs. If Humphrey’s chaos-filled bracket somehow outperforms mine, then I’m sure my boss will mention it in my yearly performance review. On the other hand, maybe I won't be asked to write a prediction ever again, but I digress.
In the end, we all know the real winner isn’t Arizona or Gonzaga — it’s Humphrey, strutting around as the true top dog.
Think you can beat our experts? Join USA TODAY's Bracket Challenge today!
Ready to win March Madness? Join USA TODAY's Survival Pool today!
Humphrey's 2026 March Madness bracket
Andrew Abadie's (Humphrey's dad) 2026 March Madness bracket
Reach Florida Gators writer Andrew Abadie at [email protected] or on X (formerly Twitter) at @AndrewAbadie. You can also find him on Facebook at Andrew Abadie Sports Reporter or on Instagram @andrewabadie_sports.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Does the perfect March Madness bracket belong to a wiener dog?
Continue reading...
There are tons of ways people hope to achieve the coveted perfection, from in-depth analytics to simply picking favorite mascots.
In the case of The Gainesville Sun, I’ve decided to let my 3-year-old miniature dachshund, Humphrey, make the logical choices.
However, to raise the ante, I opted to enhance the challenge and see if I could do better than my dog. Needless to say, our brackets are drastically different.
Humphrey’s method for making picks was pretty straightforward — two plates with a treat were set out, each representing a different team and whichever one he ran to first was his choice.
My Final Four consists of Arizona, Duke, Iowa State, and Houston, while Humphrey’s features Florida, Kansas, Gonzaga, and a Cinderella run for No. 9-seeded St. Louis.
In the end, Humphrey’s national champion is Gonzaga, and mine is Arizona.
Yet Humphrey had no shortage of upsets, as there was plenty of madness in his bracket.
Penn and North Dakota State both made runs to the Elite Eight, while Queens reached the Sweet 16. Some notable early upsets included St. John’s losing to Northern Iowa, Idaho defeating Houston and High Point taking down Wisconsin.
Another surprise from Humphrey’s bracket was Duke losing to TCU in the Round of 32.
Unlike my dog, I didn’t have as many upsets, but I picked UCF over UCLA and Miami reaching the Sweet 16.
For the Florida fans that follow the Sun, Humphrey picked the Gators to win a rematch against Vanderbilt in the Sweet 16. I also made that pick, but unlike my loyal companion, I have the Gators falling to Houston in the Elite Eight.
In the end, only one of us will earn bragging rights — and if history tells me anything, I’m about to get humbled by an 11-pound hot dog with legs. If Humphrey’s chaos-filled bracket somehow outperforms mine, then I’m sure my boss will mention it in my yearly performance review. On the other hand, maybe I won't be asked to write a prediction ever again, but I digress.
In the end, we all know the real winner isn’t Arizona or Gonzaga — it’s Humphrey, strutting around as the true top dog.
Think you can beat our experts? Join USA TODAY's Bracket Challenge today!
Ready to win March Madness? Join USA TODAY's Survival Pool today!
Humphrey's 2026 March Madness bracket
- Final Four: Kansas, Florida, Gonzaga, Saint Louis
- Final: Kansas, Gonzaga
- National champion: Gonzaga
- Full bracket:Click here for Humphrey's full bracket
Andrew Abadie's (Humphrey's dad) 2026 March Madness bracket
- Final Four: Duke, UConn, Arizona, Gonzaga
- Final: Duke, Arizona
- National champion: Arizona
- Full bracket:Click here for Andrew's full bracket
Reach Florida Gators writer Andrew Abadie at [email protected] or on X (formerly Twitter) at @AndrewAbadie. You can also find him on Facebook at Andrew Abadie Sports Reporter or on Instagram @andrewabadie_sports.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Does the perfect March Madness bracket belong to a wiener dog?
Continue reading...
