The second round of TallyMadness — an online voting competition to determine Florida’s “best” lobbyist – provided just as many shocking upset as the exciting first round. Voting ended yesterday at midnight and now the Sweet 16 is set, offering eight ultra-competitive on the way to the TallyMadness Final Four.
In Quad 1, #16 seed Steve Madden continued his improbable run through the tournament with a dominating win over #8 seed Steve Metz. Madden’s next opponent is insurance lobbyist (and my colleague from our days in FSU’s student government) #5 seed Nick Iarossi. The other match-up in Quad 1 provides an interesting storyline as brothers Chris (# 2 seed) and Charlie (#6 seed) face-off.
Winning one of the absolute closest match-ups of the second round, #8 seed Jim Magill went giant-killing and knocked-off Ron Book and will square-off against #4 seed Ron LaFace. Holding close to form, powerhouses Jim Smith (# 3 seed) and Dave Rancourt (#2 seed) won their games.
Quad 3 was a different story as underdogs Will McKinley (#9 seed), Barney Bishop (#13 seed) and Gus Corbella (#7 seed) all beat higher-ranked opponents. Only #3 seed Fred Leonhardt played to chalk.
Quad 4, #15 seed Chris Flack and #14 seed Allison DeFoor remain two of the other major stories of the tournament, winning their second-round match-ups. The winner of their match-up will play the winner of a sure-to-be-competitive scrap between #8 seed Travis Blanton, who pulled off an upset against #1 seed Paul Bradshaw and #4 Marty Fiorentino.
Voting for the third-round of TallyMadness ends at midnight on Wednesday.
