But in the end, only one could claim the title as the best. And it was:

DUCKTALES (woo-oo). Our champion had the toughest road of any song; you could make the case that four of the five five songs it beat were worthy of winning the whole thing. The fact that DuckTales came out of each of those matches makes its victory all the more impressive.

The final tally was:

DuckTales (52%) over Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (48%)

TMNT had a great run itself, losing here in the final by just three votes. The final bracket was:

So big congrats to DuckTales! Listen to it again, but this time, with real ducks!

I remember going to a pond as a kid to feed the ducks. Tearing off little pieces of bread, tossing them into the water where a group of ducks eagerly awaited the snack. Then one of the crumbs was snatched up from beneath the water’s surface, and I realized a turtle had also come to feed. Delighted, I threw the next piece of bread directly at the turtle, only to see it caught in midair by a determined duck who had no intention of losing his meal to a damn turtle.

Turtles and ducks. Enemies for life.

And so, it comes down to this. Thirty-two theme songs entered, and only two remain in our April March Madness bracket. Here were the results in the Final Four:

(2) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (56%) beat (2) Scooby Doo (44%)

(2) DuckTales (51%) beat (1) Pokemon (49%)

TMNT won with minimal drama, but DuckTales and Pokemon were close throughout the voting window, with neither song ever leading by more than a few votes. In the end, it was DuckTales by a single vote, the third straight round in which it escaped by that margin. Can it take down TMNT, which has mostly coasted through in relative comfort?

Here’s our final bracket to bring us to this point:

And here’s your final voting window:

Round 5 (Championship Match): Thursday, April 2 – Sunday, April 5

So this is it. The inevitable climax to a weeks-long tournament that has pitted friends, neighbors, and loved ones against each other in fierce disagreement. Well, I mean, maybe it has; it might have just resulted in a few polite differences of opinion. BUT EITHER WAY, this is the end. Vote with conviction. Tell your friends and family to vote for your choice. Refresh and vote again. Only one cartoon theme song can reign supreme, and only you can decide which one it shall be.

March is winding down, and so is our March Madness trip down nostalgia lane. From a controversial field of 32 cartoon theme songs, we have reached our Final Four. This round was lighter on drama, with only one close match (but the closest match possible!) of the four, and our two Cinderella stories coming to an end as they ran into a pair of powerhouses. Here are your results:

The Oldies

(2) Scooby Doo (57%) beat (8) Underdog (43%)

The Heroes

(2) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (67%) beat (8) Batman: The Animated Series (33%)

The WarnerDisneys

(2) DuckTales (51%) beat (1) Animaniacs (49%) (by a single vote!)

The Millennials

(1) Pokemon (68%) beat (2) SpongeBob SquarePants (32%)

–

It’s worth noting that this is the second straight round that DuckTales squeaked through by a single vote. Underdog and Batman: TAS both had impressive runs, but neither really stood a chance against their opponents in this round. Neither did SpongeBob, which faced its first really tough test and got pummeled by it.

Here’s the resulting bracket:

It’s all come down to this:

Your voting windows are:

Round 4 (Final 4): Monday, March 30 – Wednesday, April 1

Round 5 (Championship Match): Thursday, April 2 – Sunday, April 5

–

Vote early, vote often!

Things are really heating up in the tournament. Our last round had eight matches, and six of them ended separated by five votes or fewer, including one match that was decided by a single vote. So keep your votes coming in the polls at the end of this post. Your single vote will probably never matter in a presidential election, but in March Madness: Cartoon Theme Songs? Here, YOU have the power.

So here are our final Round 2 results:

The Oldies regional

(8) Underdog (53%) defeated (5) Inspector Gadget (47%)

(2) Scooby Doo (77%) defeated (3) Smurfs (23%)

The Heroes regional

(8) Batman: The Animated Series (59%) defeated (5) Transformers (41%)

(2) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (53%) defeated (3) X-Men 47%

The WarnerDisneys regional

(1) Animaniacs (54%) defeated (4) Pinky and the Brain (46%)

(2) DuckTales (51%) defeated (6) TaleSpin (49%) (by one vote!)

The Millennials regional

(1) Pokemon (54%) defeated (4) Doug (46%)

(2) SpongeBob Squarepants (52%) defeated (3) PowerPuff Girls (48%)

–

Our resulting bracket:

We’re left with two 8 seeds, two 1 seeds, and all four 2 seeds. Your voting windows are:

Round 3 (Round of 8): Thursday, March 26 – Sunday, March 29

Round 4 (Final 4): Monday, March 30 – Wednesday, April 1

Round 5 (Championship Match): Thursday, April 2 – Sunday, April 5

–

So start voting. The fate of the Final Four is in your hands.

We supplied the tournament, and you supplied the madness. One round in, and we’ve already lost half our top seeds, with a smattering of other upsets, too. Which Cinderella stories will continue, and which are about to come to an end? Skip to the bottom of this post to cast your vote. If you thought some of the matches in Round 1 were difficult choices (and I did), then prepare yourself for some true brutality in picking between candidates in Round 2.

Here were our Round 1 results:

The Oldies regional

(8) Underdog (53%) defeated (1) The Flintstones (47%)

(5) Inspector Gadget (62%) defeated (4) The Jetsons (38%)

(3) The Smurfs (61%) defeated (6) Casper the Friendly Ghost (39%)

(2) Scooby Doo (88%) defeated (7) Josie and the Pusscats (12%)

The Heroes regional

(8) Batman: The Animated Series (55%) defeated (1) Spiderman (1960s) (45%)

(5) Transformers (53%) defeated (4) G.I. Joe (47%)

(3) X-Men (58%) defeated (6) Captain Planet (42%)

(2) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (81%) defeated (7) Thundercats (19%)

The WarnerDisneys regional

(1) Animaniacs (71%) defeated (8) Winnie the Pooh (29%)

(4) Pinky and the Brain (58%) defeated (5) Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers (42%)

(6) TaleSpin (61%) defeated (3) Alvin and the Chipmunks (39%)

(2) DuckTales (74%) defeated (7) Gummi Bears (26%)

The Millennials regional

(1) Pokemon (64%) defeated (8) Rugrats (36%)

(4) Doug (65%) defeated The Magic School Bus (35%)

(3) The Power Puff Girls (57%) defeated (6) Arthur (43%)

(2) SpongeBob SquarePants (57%) defeated (7) Hey! Arnold (43%)

So our bracket is now:

Like I said, good luck making some of these choices. Here are your voting windows:

Round 2 (Round of 16): Monday, March 23 – Wednesday, March 25

Round 3 (Round of 8): Thursday, March 26 – Sunday, March 29

Round 4 (Final 4): Monday, March 30 – Wednesday, April 1

Round 5 (Championship Match): Thursday, April 2 – Sunday, April 5

So click below and start voting!

Do you enjoy all the tournament madness of the NCAA Basketball Championships, but wish there were a version that replaced sports with some of your favorite pop culture loves from childhood? Then you’re in luck, because we’re following up last year’s Muppets and Harry Potter tournaments with a new March Madness tournament dedicated to cartoon theme songs! So scroll down to listen to each of the contenders and vote!

We’ve narrowed the bracket down to 32 cartoon theme songs. To reach that number, we made a few rules: the audience had to originally be primarily kids (eliminating shows like The Simpsons or Futurama). The show had to be directed primarily at American audiences (eliminating a number of worthy anime contenders); our panel of judges made an exception to that rule for Pokemon, a Japanese import that had a disproportionate impact on American audiences. The theme song also needed to originate with the cartoon (eliminating movie adaptations like Ghostbusters). Finally, we didn’t include any shows that have begun in the past 10 years or so, just because our personal knowledge base on those is lacking. And to be clear: this tournament is only about the theme songs, not the cartoon as a whole.

Even with our field narrowed, we had to make a lot of painful cuts. We all had some beloved shows that didn’t make it in. Commiserate with us by commenting on what you would have liked to see make it below. And without further ado, here’s the bracket:

The bracket is divided into four regions: The Oldies, The Heroes, The WarnerDisneys, and The Millennials. The Oldies, top left, is led by #1 seed The Flintstones and covers cartoons from the early 1980s and earlier. The Heroes, bottom left, is led by #1 seed Spider-Man (1960’s version) and covers heroic shows of all eras. The WarnerDisneys, top right, is led by #1 seed Animaniacs and is a collection of Warner Brothers and Disney cartoons of the 1980s and 1990s. And The Millennials, bottom right, is led by #1 seed Pokemon and covers cartoons from the 1990s into the early 2000s.

The schedule of voting is as follows:

Round 1 (Round of 32): Thursday, March 19 – Sunday, March 22

Round 2 (Round of 16): Monday, March 23 – Wednesday, March 25

Round 3 (Round of 8): Thursday, March 26 – Sunday, March 29

Round 4 (Final 4): Monday, March 30 – Wednesday, April 1

Round 5 (Championship Match): Thursday, April 2 – Sunday, April 5

Without further ado, here are all the polls for Round 1. Start listening, voting, and enjoying!

Sixty four characters from J.K. Rowling’s life defining series of books (and the films that WB lovingly adapted) made it through the Goblet of Fire. Unless you’re Crabbe and Goyle (and shame on you if you are), everyone that made it into this March Madness-style Triwizard Tournament received at least some love in the proceedings.

And that’s how it should be. Each and every time something like this is organized, I’m sure a new winner is crowned. Harry Potter is so rich and full with brilliant, multi-faceted characters, and everyone has their own favorite. Now we know the favorite of our tiny corner of the universe, as a winner is crowned on the 16th anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts.

Was there any doubt that a witch or wizard from Gryffindor (“Not Slytherin. Not Slytherin.”) would stand above all the rest when it was all said and done? Perhaps it’s surprising who ended up as the internet’s champion, as Harry Potter himself, Neville Longbottom, Ron Weasley, and the Weasley Twins, were nowhere to be found holding the mantle of favorite/best Harry Potter universe character when it was all said and done. It was none other than Hermione Granger, who out-prepared the field, never coming close to defeat, taking out the might that is the Weasley Twins in the finals, with a whopping 76.5% of the vote. Here’s the final bracket, as Granger vanquished Dean Thomas, Gilderoy Lockhart, Professor McGonagall, Remus Lupin, Albus Dumbledore and the Weasley Twins en route to holding the Triwizard Cup.

In other words:

After every March Madness tournament, CBS Sports airs “One Shining Moment,” a video featuring the highlights of the games, the drama, the tears, the excitement. Grant Belcher, an enormously talented friend of the site, fashioned his own version for this tournament. It’s very easily the best thing that’s ever come out of Seven Inches of Your Time since its inception. Without further ado, here is Hermione Granger’s One Shining Moment:

 [adrotate banner=”13″]

It’s all come down to this.

After a torturous tournament run that can only be described as Azkabanian (I’d rather have taken my N.E.W.T.’s), twothree wizards remain.

Fred and George Weasley, the twin champions of comedy, took out Harry Potter himself (“We got Potter! We got Potter!”), en route to representing the Burrow and all that’s light, frothy and jokesy about the world.

Hermione Granger, the bushy-tailed every-woman nerd, vanquished Albus Dumbledore, showing book smarts still matters in an age where books are dying.

Now opposites face off. Fred and George Weasley dropped out of Hogwart’s to pursue a career in making people laugh. Hermione would rather die than let that happen…though of course, we never see her graduate from Hogwart’s either, as she sorted out her priorities. Can she sort out the twins?

As Oliver Wood would say, “This is it.”

“The big one,” said Fred Weasley.

“The one we’ve all been waiting for,” said George.

They know Oliver’s speech by heart, and you know the drill by now…so without further ado, VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE HARRY POTTER CHARACTER!

Voting ends Thursday May 1st at 11:59 PM PT. Feel free to vote till your fingers bleed. You may need a pint of Butterbeer, or seven, from Madam Rosmerta’s private reserve to make a decision.

[adrotate banner=”29″]

Only eight witches and wizards remain in this crazed March Madness-style tournament of HARRY POTTER characters. Allow me to illuminate the bracket for you. LUMOS!

None of the survivors are Ron Weasley. If there was one person I’m fine with one of the all-time greats losing to, it’s his dear ole mum, the patron saint of parenthood/awesome, and the den mother of the Burrow/all of us, Molly Weasley.

Whimsy and quirk were defeated once and for all, as Luna Lovegood was no match for the Half-Blood Prince, one Severus Snape, and I have no quibble(r)s about it.

Harry’s father figures are like squibs: we don’t want any part of that shit, as Sirius Black succumbed to the veil once again.

Death Eaters have also been eradicated, as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and Bellatrix Lestrange have been Avada Kedavra’d from the proceedings.

Its humans only, as Hedwig has taken his final flight.

Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom, as has been fated, will face off for a spot in the Final Four. But will it even matter, with Snape, Lupin, Hermione or Dumbledore emerging on the other side, and the King or Queen of Weasley’s standing in their way to the Championship?

We’ve arrived to the Elite 8, when decisions are more painful than splinching, or as exhausting as Hermione’s class schedule sans a time turner. Was Harry truly the right Chosen One? Can the Weasley twin wheeze past their mother? Can Hermione dispatch our favorite Professor/werewolf, Remus Lupin? Can Snape outwit his second and truest master, Albus Dumbledore? Time to find out.

Voting lasts through the weekend, until April 27th at 11:59 PM PT. Feel free to vote as often as you’d like, and tell your friends (muggle or otherwise) via owl or floo powder, unless you want to receive a howler when they find out you were sipping on Madam Rosmerta’s Butterbeers without them.

[adrotate banner=”29″]

The first two rounds of our March Madness style Harry Potter bracket has been fun, mildly diverting. Relatively easy. It was like remedial potions. Now the bracket looks like this (click on the image to make it larger):

Now it gets brutal. Sirius. Like cruciatus curse painful. It’s time to forever sort your priorities. Voldemort takes on Dumbledore. Harry gets a chance at vengeance against Bellatrix. Neville faces his toughest test yet…an owl. Hermione vs. McGonagall (!!). Ron against his mother. Fred and George must take down Sirius Black…and perhaps the biggest match of opposites ever: Luna Lovegood versus one Severus Snape.

Second round results and analysis is forthcoming (Hagrid loses to a character who was never alive for any part of the books…and that was the only upset). For rankings of the most recent losers, check this out. Let’s jump into this like Neville would a Herbology class.

Voting lasts until Wednesday, April 23rd, at 11:59 PM PT. Feel free to vote as often as you’d like, and tell your friends (muggle or otherwise) via owl or floo powder, unless you want to receive a howler when they find out you were sipping on Madam Rosmerta’s Butterbeers without them.

[adrotate banner=”28″]