In what would have been the biggest upset in Tournament of Genius history, Burt Reynolds held a commanding 73%-27% lead over Leonardo Da Vinci last night. However, the FEC (Floss Election Committee) inspected the ballots this morning, and it looks like a large percentage of Reynolds’ votes came from one computer. Rather than get into a whole hanging chad mess, we held a special election, and the Reynolds magic ran out.
[poll=38]
Here’s the updated bracket:
Comments (24)
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Thank you, mental_floss! FINALLY! Some justice!
posted by Karl on 3-23-2009 at 10:54 am
I just knew it had to be one troll trying to mess it up for the rest of us. Thank you MF for fixing that.
posted by Johnny Cat on 3-23-2009 at 11:29 am
You guys are killing me, too funny!
posted by Sarah in CA on 3-23-2009 at 11:34 am
There was also some ballot-stuffing in the Edison-Slinky Guy matchup. In that case, we just deleted those votes and declared Edison the winner. The world has been waiting too long for the Tesla-Edison battle.
posted by Jason English on 3-23-2009 at 11:35 am
Thank you, mental_floss. This contest is a great one, and has been fun to make picks. The next rounds are going to get pretty intense, and will require actual thought. Can’t wait! And I’m glad you’re keeping it honest.
posted by Rachel on 3-23-2009 at 12:02 pm
Ah ha! Something is rotten in Denmark and it’s not the fish! The fix is in for Da Vinci! I knew Burt wouldnt take a dive like he was supposed to–he kicked Leonard’s rear! Too funny!
posted by jimb on 3-23-2009 at 12:07 pm
Thank you! I would have been really upset if you all hadn’t stepped in and put an end to this clear and shameless fraud on behalf of one fanatical Reynolds devotee. Plus I have daVinci going to the final four, so it really would have messed up my one-woman bracket pool.
Seriously, this tournament may be the most fun thing I’ve ever seen on the internet. Whoever came up with the idea for the Tournament of Genius is a genius him/herself.
posted by AMT on 3-23-2009 at 12:28 pm
True flossers, be sure to vote!
posted by Mike on 3-23-2009 at 12:29 pm
And when I say “on behalf of” I mean “on the part of.” Oops.
posted by AMT on 3-23-2009 at 12:30 pm
So why didn’t you throw out the votes for the murder MacArthur and publish the truth and have a revote on that one?
MacArthur was NOT A genius, he was an incompetent leader that caused the deaths of many Americans.
posted by K. on 3-23-2009 at 12:59 pm
I just found this site last night though Digg and can’t believe I hadn’t heard of it sooner. You guys are too hilarious!
posted by Rebecca on 3-23-2009 at 1:00 pm
So why didn’t you throw out the votes for the murderer MacArthur and publish the truth and have a revote on that one?
MacArthur was NOT A genius, he was an incompetent leader that caused the deaths of many Americans.
posted by K. on 3-23-2009 at 1:00 pm
HEY!!!
It’s only 1:24 and the voting has been shutdown.
posted by Nathan on 3-23-2009 at 1:24 pm
I guess mental_floss is scared that Burt could win this match and mess up their tournament.
It’s a shame. I guess Colbert will be the sham winner of this sham publicity stunt to garner Colbert’s attention.
posted by Nathan on 3-23-2009 at 1:29 pm
I have been informed by a friend that the poll is still active and when I refreshed the votes had jumped from 180 to 240. I was really enjoying the up to the minute updates but I guess every 5 minutes is bearable.
The tournament is a sham but a fun sham (“There was also some ballot-stuffing in the Edison-Slinky Guy matchup. In that case, we just deleted those votes and declared Edison the winner.”)
so ummm yay. Good show mental_floss.
posted by Nathan on 3-23-2009 at 1:39 pm
I kinda feel sorry for the person who stuffed the ballot with votes for Burt Reynolds. I mean, when you think about it, for someone to be THAT obsessed with Mr. Reynolds, how pathetic must his/her life be? (Nothing against Burt, mind you.)
posted by Michigan Mom on 3-23-2009 at 2:49 pm
I’m not one to gossip, but does anyone know the actual wherabouts of Mr. Reynolds these past few days?
posted by holly on 3-23-2009 at 3:01 pm
Can you take the picture of Burt Reynolds down now? It’s weird scrolling past and see him posed and smiling like that.
posted by tpal on 3-23-2009 at 3:45 pm
I think the biggest kick I got was seeing such an upset; that’s what makes tournaments like the NCAA great. It’s not the #1 seeds that make the excitement, it’s the upsets.
You guys shouldn’t make the arguments to vote for someone if you override the votes. You convinced me and I voted for Reynolds and now I feel like a Gore voter in Florida.
posted by Crispin on 3-23-2009 at 6:01 pm
i think that everything i’ve guessed so far is true. My eventual winner is Einstein. Getting to the end had some tough battles (Edison vs. Franklin and Einstein vs. da Vinci)
posted by Linda on 3-23-2009 at 7:49 pm
Being from St. Louis, I naturally expected Adolphus Busch to roll over these other posers and pretenders like a battering ram! Bah! Must have been those jealous losers from Milwaukee stuffing the ballot box with chads and floating votes!
/extensively tested the product made by the progeny of Mr. Busch. :)
posted by Flandall on 3-24-2009 at 12:07 am
I like this tournament.
did anyone else notice that Edison will be against Tesla in the second round? Engineers and science geeks will love this posthumous rematch between the Great Inventors.
Go Nikola!
posted by joshua on 3-24-2009 at 8:43 am
MAN! I had Pauling vs. da Vinci! That’s my only big upset so far.. Though I had Busch v. Keynes (with Keynes winning)and I had Colt over Freud because I think Freud was an incompetant basketcase who convinced the world of a lot of lies…
Last note: I wish Galen were on here!! The Father of Neuroscience!! And he lived from 129 – 200 AD!!!
posted by Bri on 3-24-2009 at 10:09 am
Unbelievable.
First of all, I would like to state that the person who allegedly stuffed said box with ballots was NOT a member of the Super8Society: A Burt Reynolds Fan Club.
Our members are thoroughly moral men and women who would never stoop to that kind of behavior. Shame on you stuffer.
Second of all, and our Club legal advisor Prometheus Birdson will be in touch with you soon about this, but I would like someone (possibly in the media) to take a look at the ballot-stuffing and voter fraud on the DaVinci side of the aisle.
posted by Hal Needham on 4-2-2009 at 3:55 pm