So during our bracket tournament last year we were in the first real, scary part of Coronavirus lockdowns. I wanted to use this dumb bracket as a way to keep our minds busy and focused on something positive and comforting even if it truly is trivial in nature. This year we entered this tournament with hope of beating this thing finally with mass vaccinations happening as we speak. While we still are fighting this battle, it was nice to have something to distract me and I hope it was for all of you as well. Thank you again everyone for taking time to vote on these silly things. I really do look forward to this every single year and hope you do too. Enough with the my blabbering, let’s get to the good stuff!

Our Championship Round came down to a 1 seed and a 2 seed I think most had picked to win the whole thing. Like I said, these two movies were two of maybe four or five that I believed had a chance to win the whole thing. Time to find out how the Championship Round fared. Remember all “scores” are in percentages.

For the most part this tournament wasn’t as shocking as those in the past. We did have an 11 seed in Four Christmases and a 13 seed in Batman Returns make it all the way to the Sweet 16. Our first 1 seed, It’s a Wonderful Life, went down in the Round of 32 to upset king 9 seed The Santa Clause. But in the end our Elite 8 was comprised of movies that were all 4 seeds or higher.

This is the second straight year that we have run though an entire bracket without having any team catch the ever elusive 100-0 final score. It’s never happened before and now we have two straight seasons of seeing this.

Championship

Starting with our 1 seed Elf’s journey to the ‘Ship. They began coming up one vote short of getting a 100-0 victory, easily knocking off 16 seed A Christmas Prince by a final of 97-3. In the Round of 32, the Netflix destruction continued as Buddy knocked out 9 seed The Christmas Chronicles 88-12. Making to the Sweet 16, Elf beat out a strong 5 seed in The Holiday by a final of 77-23. Elf made it to the Regional Final without really being tested and they walked through to be crowned the regional champion by taking out 2 seed 2000’s The Grinch by a final of 77-23. The Final Four saw our 1 seed have to fight for the first time really as they beat another Champion caliber talent in Classic Region champ, 4 seed Home Alone. The final to get into the Championship was 59-41.

If the left side of our bracket was decided by blowout after blowout, the right side was won via the exact opposite path. Our Animated Region went almost completely scratch from beginning to end. The 2 seed 1966’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas started out the tourney by barnstorming the 15 seed Arthur Christmas 89-11. The Round of 32 saw the Grinch kick out a beloved retelling of a classic in 7 seed Mickey’s Christmas Carol 77-23. After two fairly easy going match-ups, our Animated Champ had to fight for everything starting in the Sweet 16 where they took out the ever classic 3 seed Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer by a one vote margin 51-49. The Elite 8 was just as tough as our 2 seed won the Regional Final by 2 votes 52-48 against the top seed in the region Charlie Brown Christmas. In the Final Four our Animated Region Champion took out my dark horse to win it all, Non-Typical Region winner 1 seed Die Hard, by a final of 60-40.

We have had some finals that were complete blowouts and some that were back and forth the entire voting period. In this year’s final, our 1 seed Elf got out to a slight lead early on and never let go as they beat 2 seed How The Grinch Stole Christmas by a final of 58-42. Simultaneously not super close but also so, so much better than the real life March Madness finale. Elf is a beautifully sweet, some (my wife) say perfect, Christmas movie. They flew through our tournament and were really only tested by absolutely huge competition in Home Alone and How The Grinch Stole Christmas.

Elf joins our former champions The Beatles, The Sandlot, Breakfast Tacos & Burritos, The Fresh Price of Bel-Air, and Whataburger.

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Thank you all once again for taking time to vote in this tournament. I hope this thing was as fun for you as it was for me. We’ll do it again next March! As usual, I’ve got some ideas bouncing around in the old noggin for themes but I’m always looking for ideas for next year’s bracket. If you have any suggestions, feel free to get in touch with me on Facebook or Twitter.

After knocking 64 of the best, most perfect holiday movies down to a final Champion, our completed bracket looks like this: