Okay, so this will work exactly the same as last year's tournament. It's just like the NCAA college basketball tournament that is about to start, except it will involve songs that the Features play instead of basketball teams. Each 'round' of the tournament will last a couple of days. I will post the new round of matchups, and you can vote for which song in each matchup you like better by e-mailing me at: btpatton@comcast.net. I will tally the votes at the end of each round and post the results of which songs made it to the next round. A couple of guidelines are: judge each song not on any particular recording or performance of that song, but as a Features song in general. There are cover songs included. Obviously, judge these cover songs by the Features' version of the song, not the original.
Changes from last year? Well, the Features have written/played new songs since then, so there are fewer covers involoved this year.
Here are the seedings:

MIDWEST:
(1) Circus
(2) God Save Rock'n'Roll
(3) Someway, Somehow
(4) Exorcising Demons
(5) Burma
(6) Thursday
(7) Oh My Love
(8) Exhibit A
(9) Hey Lou
(10) Kari-Ann
(11) Situation Gone Bad
(12) Heard It Through the Grapevine
(13) Button My Shirt
(14) Engine Debris
(15) Like a Virgin
(16) I Won't Let You Down

WEST:
(1) Leave It All Behind
(2) See You Thru
(3) Bring On the Night
(4) Blow It Out
(5) Your Smile
(6) Armani Suede
(7) There's a Million Ways to Sing the Blues
(8) Serious
(9) Paid to Think
(10) Anti-Gravity Class of '93
(11) That's Me
(12) Jurley
(13) Attention
(14) Rabbit March
(15) Captain Williams
(16) Matt's Little Ditty

SOUTH:
(1) Buffalo Head
(2) Walk You Home
(3) Me & the Skirts
(4) Harold
(5) Moonlight
(6) The Design
(7) Temporary Blues
(8) Stagecoach
(9) Jet
(10) Disco
(11) Roger's Theme
(12) Look Out Below
(13) Stick Together
(14) Treehouse Club
(15) Laid
(16) Waffle House Menu

EAST:
(1) The Beginning
(2) Darkroom
(3) Action
(4) The Idea of Growing Old
(5) That's the Way It's Meant to Be
(6) Bumblebee
(7) The Damage is Done
(8) 2 x 2
(9) Don't Lie to Me
(10) D-Con (Radio One)
(11) Psycho Killer
(12) 33 1/3
(13) Stark White Stork Approaching
(14) Extension Cord
(15) Discotheque
(16) Standing By

First round matchups are coming up...

FIRST ROUND
ENDS FRIDAY NIGHT AT MIDNIGHT

MIDWEST:
(1) Circus
(16) I Won't Let You Down

(8) Exhibit A
(9) Hey Lou

(5) Burma
(12) I Heard It Through the Grapevine

(4) Exorcising Demons
(13) Button My Shirt

(6) Thursday
(11) Situation Gone Bad

(3) Someway, Somehow
(14) Engine Debris

(7) Oh My Love
(10) Kari-Ann

(2) God Save Rock'n'Roll
(15) Like a Virgin

WEST:
(1) Leave It All Behind
(16) Matt's Little Ditty

(8) Serious
(9) Paid to Think

(5) Your Smile
(12) Jurley

(4) Blow It Out
(13) Attention

(6) Armani Suede
(11) That's Me

(3) Bring On the Night
(14) Rabbit March

(7) There's a Million Ways to Sing the Blues
(10) Anti-Gravity Class of '93

(2) See You Thru
(15) Captain Williams

SOUTH:
(1) Buffalo Head
(16) Waffle House Menu

(8) Stagecoach
(9) Jet

(5) Moonlight
(12) Look Out Below

(4) Harold
(13) Stick Together

(6) The Design
(11) Roger's Theme

(3) Me & the Skirts
(14) Treehouse Club

(7) Temporary Blues
(10) Disco

(2) Walk You Home
(15) Laid

EAST:
(1) The Beginning
(16) Standing By

(8) 2 x 2
(9) Don't Lie to Me

(5) That's the Way It's Meant to Be
(12) 33 1/3

(4) The Idea of Growing Old
(13) Stark White Stork Approaching

(6) Bumblebee
(11) Psycho Killer

(3) Action
(14) Extension Cord

(7) The Damage is Done
(10) D-Con (Radio One)

(2) Darkroom
(15) Discotheque

You can vote on some or all of these one time. The easiest way to do it would probably be to cut and paste and just put an 'X' beside your choice in the e-mail. Mail to btpatton@comcast.net

(Edited by jamiecarroll at 12:28 am on Mar. 17, 2003)

Just as I had forgotten this was coming, it starts. Great.

Upon closer examination, I think the main match-ups that will be a good close vote are Jurley/Your Smile and Moonlight/Look Out Below. And I thought 33 1/3 should've gotten a higher seeding, but hey, that's me.

Who kicks ass for doing this? Oh yeah, Jamie kicks serious ass for doing this.

I am a bit curious as to how the seedings were determined and all... I definitely disagree with some of it. Harold seems unusually high (given jamie's love for the tune, it isn't surprising) and 33 1/3 is definitely way low. For the most part, though, rather agreeable pairings...

Thanks a ton jamie for doing this, should be fun.

Will

wow, this is great. not that i know even know what a "seeding" is (though i'm pretty sure i have it figured out from context clues)...i know nothing about how the whole NCAA thing works. (but no need for anyone on the board to explain, i'm sure that would be a very long and complicated task that's way too long to type...i'm gonna find me an individual at school tomorrow who is knowledgeable on basketball and have them explain the whole process to me. then i'm totally in.) thanks jamiecarroll! no one is better than you.

What is considered to be most likely to win is seeded 1st. What is considered least likely to win is seeded last. This way, the final rounds have a good chance to be exciting, since the top seeded teams/songs are likely to battle each other. Make since? Short enough explanation?

yes it was. for some reason i figured that an adequate explanation would require some long, complicated typing out of things. looks like i was wrong.
thanks keith...always the do-gooder.

The seedings are based on the general popularity of the songs. I used four things to determine the seed that each song got:

1. this thread about people's favorite Features songs

2. this poll about favorite songs on The Beginning EP

3. this poll about favorite songs on the self-titled EP

4. My own perceptions of how popular a given song is.

So there you have it. With "Harold," lots of people listed it among their favorite songs, and generally, people (admittedly including myself) go apeshit when it gets played at shows. With "33 1/3," no one listed it among their favorite songs, and I get the feeling that (except for Wiyum) everyone is kind of tired of that song.

I'm sorry if some of the seedings were off. Hey, at least this year, I did "research" when seeding the songs. Last year, I ONLY used "#4."

That's entirely too much effort, but all your work is certainly appreciated. You'll always be the ambiguously gendered ruler of the message board to me.

Well, looking at how I responded to that first thread, I both included Harold and failed to include 33 1/3... an oversight to be sure, but one that I clearly made. My apologies for questioning your methods... you were rather thorough. Good stuff, sir, good stuff.

For the record, I enjoy few songs live more than 33 1/3...

My other questions would concern the division breakdowns... was that random, or is there method to that madness too?

Will

(Edited by Wiyum at 10:38 pm on Mar. 16, 2003)

Oh yes...this is great. I have to give major-supercool-monkeyninja-geek points to JC for doing this. As a man who makes excel spreadsheets to document his favorite comic book covers, I applaud your effort. Let the games begin!

so are we allowed to talk about these things, like, "which one did you vote for out of so and so" and "it sure was a close round between Kari-Ann and Oh My love" and what did you base yer votes on etc. ?

well im going to talk baout it anyway. now that I know what a "seeding" is, (thank you keith for the tutorial) I can actually comment on the tourny itself.

what surpised me the most was that bumblebee was higher than 2x2.

i think extension chord is the most underrated features song ever. it should be played live, and jesus christ i hope i can make it to the show if that ever happens.

"Stick Together" made the cut so you know I'm happy! However, I don't expect it to go very deep in the tourney.

It's inhumane to make me pick between "Jurley" and "Your Smile."

(Edited by Tom Foolery at 5:14 pm on Mar. 17, 2003)

I'd be happy if it would make it into the second round. "Stick Together" is such a great song. I offer any whole CD from my rare/unreleased Features encyclopedia for a decent copy of it. Just send me a PM.

i definately agree with you on this one. it's never been my favorite songs to hear on a cd, but it would kick some serious butt in a show.

Hey jamie- you are totally awesome for doing this. Can you refresh our memory as to what the top winners were last year?

You can read where Tom Foolery dug those up from last year here.

OK...which songs went into which divisions (West, Midwest, etc) was totally random.

Can I just say a big "thank you" to everyone who has participated so far? In less than 48 hours, we've already had more than twice as many people vote than we had in any one round last year. Ya'll are awesome.

There some very close contests right now.

the second round should be very interesting......lots of tough decisions.....

Thank you thank you! Looking at the date, I was too busy squeaking through customs to check the message board. This year will be much more statistically reliable if our "n" keeps increasing.

What did I tell you about using that kind of language around here?

The main problem I have with the methodology is the possibility of the Hawthorn Effect. However, I am afraid it is unavoidable.

Damn "soft" scientists!

I loved the Scarlet Letter!

It sucks that Damage Is Done and Temporary Blues will have to face powerhouses in Round 2, if everything plays out as it should. The poor little things have no chance...

you never know, richard......you never know......

No bracket would be complete without gambling...cann0n8@aol.com for all interested parties.

DUDE, I already tried that and no one seemed interested, where were you three days ago? I guess while it's too late to get a pool together there still could be single match-up and round bets. I only like the pools, though.

could the tournament possibly be canceled due to the war.....just like the NCAA tournament?

Or take the Oscar route and trim the red carpet for the final ceremony.

No.

that's good to know

It does raise an interesting question, didn't the rounds of each tourney happen simultaneously last year? Will you just set the deadlines yourself, Jamie?

No and no. Last year (and this year, too) the rounds correspond with the rounds of the actual NCAA Men's Tourney. The first round is Thu and Fri, so I had our first round be over at the end of Friday. I guess the only exception is that our started earlier. So the second round will be Saturday and Sunday.

(Edited by jamiecarroll at 3:21 am on Mar. 20, 2003)

right, so if the ncaa is delayed than so shall ours, or will you just stick with the original schedule?

Right, but the NCAA announced on Tuesday that it would not postpone any games due to the war. Here.

Were the rounds that short last year? I remember them being longer than just two days, but I could easily be mistaken.