I want to start with a big thank you to everyone who takes time out of your week to read these silly blogs and vote in our tournaments. I really do look forward to this every single year and hope you do too. I’m gonna throw out the tip jar one more time, just for funsies. If you enjoy what we do here and feel so inclined to throw a couple Dollary-Do’s my way to help pay for the sites and whatnot, feel free to Venmo me @ josh-sorensen-5 or PayPal @ JoshSorensen5. 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 that I think most of us could have picked to run the gauntlet at the outset of our voting. It was quite the journey for our two finalists but they persevered to make it to the finale.

The last two years were probably the least surprising of our 9 years together for sure. This go around, we didn’t lose our first 1 seed until the Sweet 16 and two of the other three bowed out in the Elite 8. While last year’s average seed of our Elite 8 was under 5 (and we thought that was the closest to scratch we would ever go), this year the average Elite 8 seed was flippin’ 2 (and for the record, if all four match-ups in the Elite 8 were 1 vs 2 seeds, the average would be 1.5 so we were almost there. Wow!). For the second straight year, we only had one double digit seed make it to the Sweet 16 and that 12 seed was the only non 1-4 seed to make that round. Wild.

From last year’s championship post: “After three straight years that we had run though an entire bracket without having any team catch the ever elusive 100-0 final score, we got a grand total of one this year – 2 seed Oscar Meyer’s “I’d Love To Be an Oscar Meyer Weiner” over 15 seed Bumble Bee Tuna.”. Well, we went through this year’s entire bracket without anyone going 100-0 so that makes 4 out of the past 5 years. It’s so tough to pull off.

Time to find out how the Championship Round fared. Remember all “scores” are in percentages.

Championship

We’ll start with a little recap of how our two fictional songs worked their way to the ‘Ship.

The left side of our bracket was won by what I would have classified as the overall 1 seed in our Rockstar Region where it became the only one of our four regions that ended with the top seed representing. The 1 seed “Scotty Doesn’t Know” from Eurotrip had some tight matches but ultimately, the song we all knew had the best shot at taking the region won out. The Eurotrip anthem got shot out of a cannon with a full destruction of 16 seed “African Child (Trapped in Me)” – Get Him to the Greek 88-12. The 8 seed “I’m So Humble” – Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping got fully humbled 85-15 in the Round of 32. In the Sweet 16, our biggest Cinderella, 12 seed “School of Rock (Teacher’s Pet)” – School of Rock, saw midnight come early by a final of 65-35. The Rockstar Regional Final was an all-timer as “Scotty Doesn’t Know” got their biggest test from 2 seed “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow” – O Brother, Where Art Thou? but ultimately the 1 seed won by a two-vote margin of victory 54-46. And finally, their Semi-Final match was a close one! When I checked the votes on Friday night, our Rockstar Region champion “Scotty Doesn’t Know” was up by 3 votes over Cartoon/Kid Region champ “”Peaches”. As Sunday night voting came to a close, our Rockstar Regional winner “Scotty Doesn’t Know” held on and beat out Bowser and moved on to the Championship by a final of 57-43.

Our right side of the bracket was taken by a 2 seed that easily could have been a 1 seed where 8 Mile‘s “Lose Yourself” fought tooth and nail to win the Solo Region and even get to the Final 4. They started off easy, beating down 15 seed “Love Me Sexy” – Semi-Pro 89-11. The Round of 32 saw them take out a beautiful 7 seed “Dracula’s Lament” – Forgetting Sarah Marshall by a final of 60-40. This would be the end of their easy street. The Sweet 16 found them end up in a tie with 3 seed “Grow Old With You” – The Wedding Singer 50-50 (!) which was broken by Mrs. Clumsy Optimist in favor of B-Rabbit. They followed that squeaker up by winning the Solo Region over 4 seed “I’m Just Ken” – Barbie by just one vote 52-48. Our second Semi-Final was a super tight game. Every time I checked in, either Solo Region representative “Lose Yourself” or TV Region winner “Smelly Cat” was up by one vote! With one hour to go in voting, I checked in on this one and it was a dead heat! The Solo Region champ “Lose Yourself” lobbed up a last second buzzer beater and took out the Friends anthem by ONE VOTE! 52-48. So the last three rounds for the 8 Mile record had been won by tie-breaker, one vote and one vote.

I truly and honestly was at a loss for how to vote in this Final. “Scotty Doesn’t Know” is perfect and was the song that spurred the conversation that set this year’s topic. But “Lose Yourself” is a true cultural touchstone with maybe a bit more reach. I had no idea how you guys were going to lean on this one. After fully living on the edge for the Sweet 16, Elite 8 and Final 4 the main track from the 8 Mile Soundtrack finally ran out of luck. This match-up was so close for the entire run of voting – every time I checked in this one was typically within 1 or 2 votes. By the end of voting on Wednesday evening, our 1 seed from Eurotrip comes out victorious by a 3-vote final of 56-44.

One last time, here is our 2024 Champion – “Scotty Doesn’t Know” from Eurotrip!!!

And we can’t leave without revisiting the Bratislava club remix scene! The Absinth scene! The “They really are the worst twins ever” scene!

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“Scotty Doesn’t Know” joins our former champions  The Beatles, The Sandlot, Breakfast Tacos & Burritos, The Fresh Price of Bel-Air, Whataburger, Elf, “Friend Like Me”, and “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up”.

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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 (believe it or not, there’s a spreadsheet…there’s ALWAYS a spreadsheet) but I’m always open and 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 songs from fictional bands down to a final Champion, our completed bracket looks like this: