March Madness Factory of Sadness Tournament Championship

In the spirit of March Madness and the NCAA Tournament, the Factory of Sadness is bringing forward its own tournament to determine which Cleveland athlete reigns supreme when it comes to general kick-butt awesomeness. *Story was co-written by Factory of Sadness writers Ryan Landolph and Eric Pitcher*

Players of the Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Indians, and Ohio State Buckeyes (football and basketball) have been seeded and will be battling for the Factory of Sadness Tournament Championship.

Similar to how the 10-member selection committee seeds the teams battling for a National Championship, FoS has ranked 32 different players and placed them in four different regions.

Each team – Browns, Cavs, Indians and OSU – had eight active players seeded one through eight based upon their stats, career accomplishments, longevity of success and other miscellaneous categories. Then, each player was put into a region based roughly on where they went to college, high school or where they were born.

Therefore, each team has a number one seed in one of the four regions. The Indians have Andrew Miller in the East Region. Ohio State has J.T. Barrett in the West Region. The Browns have Joe Thomas in the Midwest Region. Finally, the Cavs have Kyrie Irving in the South Region.

The one glaring omission from the tournament is LeBron James. While James would obviously be a number one seed, including him in this tournament would be simply unfair to all other competition. LBJ is one of the G.O.A.T’s, not just in the NBA, but in all of sports history.

Like in the NCAA Tournament, aside from Connecticut on the women’s side, there is not a dominant team that is expected to win the title. For this tournament, the circumstances are the same. Sorry, LeBron, but you are legitimately too good for this tournament.

The bracket is set up exactly like the NCAA Tournament bracket – just without the extra 32 seeds. Imagine the Second Round matchups, as that is what this tournament looks like. The matchups will follow the seeding in each region.

Both Factory of Sadness writers Ryan Landolph and Eric Pitcher will perform their own simulation, providing reasoning for each matchup. Their picks will be posted at the end of the matchup.

So, without further ado, here are the four regions and all eight seeds in each region.