Greetings Life of Dad Community!
Mikel Saloma is the 2012 Life of Dad Men's Basketball Bracket Champion. Spambot, Sergey Aronov, was reportedly devastated by the news of its disqualification.
As you have probably heard by now, in local & national news reports, the 2012 Life of Dad NCAA Bracket Competition Committee has disqualified Sergey Aronov from having won this year’s brackets. After further review, we found Sergey to be a spambot, with no working e-mail address and no existence whatsoever. When asked for thoughts on this, Life Of Dad founder, Tom Riles, said,
“We are amazed and befuddled that not only can a spambot create a Man Cave, but also read our Ramblings and successfully pick men’s college basketball games”.
Therefore, the committee has bumped every other participant up one notch in the standings. Dallas area resident, Mikel Saloma, has been named the new champion and is therefore awarded with the $100 Ralph’s gift card prize.
Born in Pamplona, Spain, Mikel grew up in St. Louis, Missouri and found his way to Texas in 1994 when he decided to attend Texas A&M University. Saloma worked for 12 years in higher education as an admissions counselor for Texas A&M, a college advisor at two Dallas ISD high schools and now as the Director of Undergraduate Recruitment and Retention at the SMU Lyle School of Engineering.
Saloma is married to a native Texan and the proud father of two little boys. He loves the Dallas Cowboys, St. Louis Cardinals and Spain’s National Soccer Team (La Furia Roja). Hobbies include studying the chronology of the Pharaohs, the geography of the brain and the history of early Hungarian cabinet making.
Life of Dad got some time to sit down at their computer, send an e-mail to Saloma with questions and have him sit down at his computer and respond. Here’s our exclusive interview with this year’s Life of Dad NCAA Bracket Champion, Mikel Saloma:
Life of Dad: Our condolences go out to the Dallas community in the wake of the terrible tornadoes over the past week. As a Dad, can you share a little bit about any thoughts, anything you went through, preparation, or how it affected your Dad-ing?
Saloma: I was actually at the Texas Association for College Admissions Counseling (TACAC) Conference in Houston, Texas when the 14 tornados came through Dallas. I got to the Houston airport to head home when all the TVs at the bars were showing the destruction. I freaked out worried about my two sons, Mark and Daniel. I texted my kids’ day care teacher, Ms. Susana, and she assured me they were ok. I was so worried about them that I voluntarily got on a flight to Dallas minutes after those storms passed through. I was so scared to fly into the area that I added this as my Facebook status: I’m about to fly to Dallas and all that weather mess. If I am involved in a plane crash, I want someone to salvage my eyes and give them to Stevie Wonder. I am alive to tell this unbelievable story.
LOD: The previously-named champion of this year’s NCAA Brackets turned out to be a spambot. Can you confirm: are you a human being?
Saloma: I have human parents and human siblings, but I am pretty sure I came from the planet Krypton and was originally named Kal-El.
LOD: How do you feel about everyone in this year’s competition losing to a Spambot?
Saloma: The spambot can suck it!! How dare he challenge my vast NCAA Basketball prognostication skills? Cheaters like the spam-bot and 1970s East German female Olympic athletes should never be tolerated. All I ask for is a fair game.
LOD: Since you were the top human in the standings, share a little about your years as a benchwarmer for Our Lady of Pillar’s elementary school basketball team, riding the pine with Life of Dad co-founder, David Guest, and how that prepared you for this day?
Saloma: I was a firm believer that I was on my road to the NBA back in those days. The only thing that stood in my way was talent. I rode the bench to inspire my talented teammates. Every time they looked at me and David, I wanted them to know that this could be their fate had they been born with poor genetics and a broken will to defy these same poor genetics. However, I actually enjoyed the bench since my very own father always rooted for the other team. It was easier to stomach my father heckling my team when I wasn’t actually on the court. My favorite sports memory, however, was the two years where my older brothers coached my soccer teams. Abe and Richard Saloma acknowledged that we had no talent and thus we just played football during soccer practice. The only time we actually played soccer during soccer practice was when other parents would stick around to watch. My brothers taught me another lesson: If you suck at one sport, try another. Sadly, we weren’t much better at football.
LOD: What was your methodology in picking this year’s brackets?
Saloma: I was a horrible college basketball fan this year. I can safely say that I watched less than 20 minutes of college basketball this season before the NCAA Tournament began. Sadly, I only joined the Life of Dad pool because I didn’t want to break a streak. I was flying blind. Hell, I picked Duke and Mizzou in the Final Four. They lost in the first round and I still won. My win isn’t a testament to my knowledge of NCAA basketball this season, it speaks volumes for those actual fans that knew (or thought they knew) what they were talking about. I stand here as champion, but I couldn’t have done that if the rest of the field wasn’t clueless and inept. Until next year, I can safely say I am better than the competition. You guys are the mud in my shoes and the crabs in my. . . fish tank.
LOD: You are a Director of Undergraduate Recruitment and Retention for SMU’s Lyle School of Engineering. Honestly, what do you think of the first name, “Lyle”?
Saloma: Lyle is a very powerful and manly last name. (Shout out to the namesake of the engineering school where I work). As a first name. . . it is very powerful and manly. (Shout out to the namesake of the engineering school where I work).
LOD: There were reports that SMU was trying to get Buzz Williams, the head coach of the National Champion Marquette Golden Eagles, to be their next coach. Honestly?
Saloma: My oldest son Mark was very excited about this. I think he thought we were getting Buzz Lightyear. . . close enough. I think Buzz Williams is a great coach, but we should set our sights on a bigger name. I am calling it. SMU will get Phil Jackson or John Wooden. If that doesn’t work, they should go after Buzz Lightyear. If he can handle the evil forces of Zurg, he can easily handle the slackass teams in Conference USA next season and the supposed power houses of the Big East in 2013!
LOD: One of your hobbies is the history of early Hungarian cabinet making. What makes early Hungarian cabinets so unique, and if you had one, what would you put in it?
Saloma: Early Hungarian cabinets capture the essence of Hungary and cabinets. Modern Hungarian cabinet makers have done a total disservice to their predecessors. If I was privileged enough to have an early Hungarian cabinet, I would fill it up with memorabilia from the most famous Hungarian ever. Yes, I am talking about the great St. Louis Cardinal, # 39, Al Hrabosky. If there was any room left over, I would fill my early Hungarian cabinet with my other most prized possessions like my autographed picture of Steve Guttenberg dressed up as Carey Mahoney from Police Academy, my vast collection of stickers of the infamous St. Louis eatery, Eat-Rite (Eat-Rite or Not at All) and last but not least, my basketball jersey from my days as an Our Lady of the Pillar Panther. In my 5 years on the OLP basketball team, I averaged 0.8 points a game!!!
LOD: Any final comments for the Life of Dad community, or fellow dad’s out there regarding life, the life of being a dad, or anything else?
Saloma: I dedicate this victory to my wife, Amy Rose Saloma. She married me in spite of my obvious shortcomings and wants me to start my very own blog website, Musings of an Idiot. In spite of her BLATANT undying love and utter confidence in me, I know that she played a huge role in the making of my two biggest fans. . . our children Mark and Daniel Saloma.
Dads: Behind every good dad is a great Mom (honor your baby mama) and in many ways, great Moms. Beatrice Saloma (my very own, loving mother) taught me that once you become a Daddy, your life as a parent is a life devoted to your children. I am lucky. Mark and Daniel are great kids. I love them with all my heart, and everything I do is to honor them. Anyone can be a father, but it takes a real man to be a Daddy. Word.
Mikel, on behalf of the Life of Dad Community, we congratulate you on this amazing feat. You have not only proven that you are a human, but have defeated all the other human participants in this year’s NCAA Bracket competition. Wear the champion crown (metaphorically speaking…we don’t have a crown for you) proudly.