{"id":97698,"date":"2015-04-09T07:37:09","date_gmt":"2015-04-09T12:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/?p=97698"},"modified":"2015-04-09T07:37:09","modified_gmt":"2015-04-09T12:37:09","slug":"and-the-winner-of-2015-middle-earth-march-madness-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/2015\/04\/09\/97698-and-the-winner-of-2015-middle-earth-march-madness-is\/","title":{"rendered":"And the Winner of 2015 Middle-earth March Madness is…"},"content":{"rendered":"

While fans\u00a0of basketball were enjoying a Duke victory\u00a0in the\u00a0NCAA men’s college basketball tournament, Middle-earth fans were preparing for the epic final of Middle-earth March Madness:\u00a0Gandalf vs. Bilbo Baggins! This year we decided to keep the poll results hidden to heighten the suspense. I must admit, I took full advantage of my special access to watch the results intently. When we first opened the battle, Bilbo took an early (hobbit-sized) lead of only 1%. Over the next 48 hours, the combatants exchanged that\u00a0lead nearly every hour. It was a neck and neck competition that only revealed a\u00a0clear winner in the last 12\u00a0hours.<\/p>\n

We closely watched for voter fraud\u00a0and we are pleased to report that no over-voting was recorded. Each vote had a unique IP. \u00a0So without further delay, we are pleased to announce that the 2015\u00a0Middle-earth March Madness Champion is….\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"memadness2015-champion-fb\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gandalf!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gandalf won with 53.29% of the vote.<\/strong> Below are the links to all of the final match-ups and results, including a downloadable tourney bracket.<\/p>\n

Thanks to all who participated in the 2015 Middle-earth March Madness Tournament and we look forward to next year! Please leave your comments, suggestions and general ranting and raving in the provided area below!<\/p>\n

[Final Results<\/a>] [Final Download<\/a>]\u00a0[Final Four Results<\/a>] [Round 4 Results<\/a>]\u00a0[Round 4 Download<\/a>] [Round 3 Results<\/a>] [Round 3 Download<\/a>] [Round 2 Results<\/a>] [Round 2 Download<\/a>] [Round 1 Results<\/a>] [Round 1 Download<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While fans\u00a0of basketball were enjoying a Duke victory\u00a0in the\u00a0NCAA men’s college basketball tournament, Middle-earth fans were preparing for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":97701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14,197,36,7,4,35,5,29,31,30,38,98,148,1636,1911,1912,149,37],"tags":[2462,2477,1406],"class_list":["post-97698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-fans","category-fotr-book","category-hobbit-book","category-hobbit-movie","category-lotr-books","category-lotr-movies","category-fotr-movie","category-rotk-movie","category-ttt-movie","category-rotk-book","category-silmarillion","category-hobbit","category-the-hobbit-an-unexpected-journey","category-the-hobbit-the-desolation-of-smaug","category-the-hobbit-there-and-back-again","category-lotr","category-ttt-book","tag-march-madness","tag-mr-sparkle","tag-thranduil"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t