Results of Round 2 Wild North America & Mammal Collectives

The second set of battles in Round 2 of the 2022 March Mammal Madness tournament was a testament to how poorly I know animals. From the Wild North America and Mammal Collectives divisions, I was only able to select 3 out of the Eight entrants into the Sweet 16. If it were not for the Lionesses, Bear, and Skunks, I would have felt worse than an Embarrassment of Pandas…and they lost their match last night.

In any case, here are the results of the Mammal Collectives division of the tournament, where I actually have 2 picks that are still in the contest.

I suppose being the number 1 seed, the Pride of Lionesses were expected to make it to the Sweet 16, but it was a close call. Apparently, there was another pride of lions that decided they felt snubbed by not being asked to participate in the tournament, and they caused some trouble at the local watering hole. Our Pride was relentless, though, and even while defending their territory from the invading cats, they were able to smash the Sneak of Weasels, who put up a valiant fight but were destined to fall as two prides fought for land.

The other battle with a positive result for my picks was between the Pandas and Skunks. I knew from previous years that Skunks had a tendency to perform above their ranking during these tournaments. They always rise to the occasion and last night was no different, even though they were only facing an Embarrassment of Pandas. These rock simulators lose the battle of the black & whites, and the Stench of Skunks reign supreme. I still can’t believe these Pandas were seeded number 2 or that they were able to get past the Prairie Dogs, but at least they are done for 2022.

In another of the two remaining Collectives battles, we see the Beavers take advantage of their engineering skills as they undermine the Lemurs’ trees and cause the Conspiracy to run off after trees start falling all over the place. I suppose I should have considered the Beaver tree trimming skills when I made my picks.

Finally, another battle of the Bats takes place as the Wisdom of Wombats takes on the Cauldron of Bats in a fight that I don’t have a preference for. With home-field advantage and a weight that is magnitudes more than a bat, the Wombats win the day and move on.

As bad as my picks for the Mammal Collectives were, my selections for the Wild North America bracket were worse as I only have the Grizzly Bear advancing.

Interestingly during the COVID pandemic, I started watching the Brooks Falls Bear Cam in Katmai National Park, where bears and wolves often interact, and as I expected from this battle, the Grizzly Bear came out of the contest successfully chasing the Wolf off.

Other than the Grizzly, though, I watched my Black Bear pick go down to the Wapiti Elk and saw my Mountain Lion drag his food away from the Jaguar and out of the arena leaving the Jaguar victorious. And in what may be the biggest upset of the tournament so far, the Bighorn Sheep stood his ground against a bunch of tourists as fan interference again impacted the results of the tournament. The Bison figured it would be better to find a place to graze without people around.

With all these losses, I end up heading into the Sweet 16 with 9 picks advancing…just above 50%, which is not so good. Tomorrow I’ll take a look at who we have left in the tournament.

Ramble 128 | Dingo 58 | 2022.68 | Results of Round 2 Wild North America & Mammal Collectives