Seriously ESPN? You’re putting up a column about a “bracket” to determine the best meat a full WEEK after So Good launched Meat Madness? Now look, I’m not claiming to be the first person in the world to come up with the idea of a bracket to determine which is the best of certain kinds of products, such as meat. In fact, the idea of meat madness was suggested to me by a reader.  Nor do I have any sole ownership over the concept.  But you guys probably paid this Paul Lukas character a little bit of money for his column.  Why no love for So Good?

espn-meat-bracket

I should point out, that while the concept of Lukas’s post is exactly the same as So Good’s Meat Madness, the presentation and execution are a bit different. For one thing, he started with 64 meats – something I considered but ultimately tossed out because the voting would have taken ages.  Second main difference? He goes through and picks his winners of the meat bracket from start to finish. So essentially the bracket is introduced, every match-up is resolved, and a winner is chosen by the end of the column. Where’s the fun in that? Where’s the audience participation?

So who made the final four for Paul Lukas?  Bacon, standing rib roast, bratwurst and chicken tails. Weird. That definitely won’t be the outcome of the Meat Madness bracket here at So Good, I can tell you that much.  In the finals of his bracket? Standing rib roast defeated bacon in the final match-up. Interesting.

Still several weeks to go before a champion is crowned in So Good’s Meat Madness – should be a great tournament.

24 Responses

  2. Paul Lukas

    Hi, Jon … Paul Lukas from ESPN here. Hadn’t seen your meat bracket until someone else brought it to my attention this morning. Didn’t mean to step on your toes. Happily, there’s enough meat to go around for everyone…

    Cheers,
    Paul

    Reply
  3. Eick

    Hey Paul,

    Thanks for leaving a comment, I appreciate it. I enjoyed your column but was a bit irked that it was coming a full week after my meat madness bracket went up with no mention that there was already a very recent meat bracket out there.

    Howver, it was interesting to hear your thoughts on different meats – some of them obviously differ from the mainstream views.

    I hope you’ll return to So Good and take part in our ongoing Meat Madness voting.

    Reply
  4. Youppi

    Whatevs Paul, your excuse sounds “SOGOOD” to be true.

    aka, you stink.

    sincerely,
    So Good Meat Madness > ESPN’s Meat Wackness

    Reply
  5. shatraw

    Lukas, you fucking hack! are you goddamn kidding me???

    ESPN blatantly ripped you off, eick. and now this queer Paul Lukas will be happily presenting his meat bracket every year.

    this is so unbelievable.

    Reply
  6. shatraw

    i just sent lukas a scathing email. that plagarist pig. what a fucking douche. and that smug shit he posted up there: “Didn’t mean to step on your toes. Happily, there’s enough meat to go around for everyone…”

    that’s total bullshit.

    down with paul lukas. if i was a hacker, i would spam the shit out of his blog.

    this makes me SO angry…

    Reply
  7. Eick

    Ok, ok, calm down people. I believe Lukas when he says he came up with the idea to write a meat bracket column without having seen mine. Again, I would like to stress that I am not claiming to have come up with the idea of a meat bracket.

    Would it have been nice if Lukas had done a Google search or looked into if a meat bracket was already being run? Sure. Certainly So Good’s Meat Madness has been covered by a wide array of food blogs already and he would have seen that.

    I’m not saying he shouldn’t have written his column, but yeah, it would have been nice if he had acknowledged that a major food blog was already running a Meat Bracket that had started a full week before his column went up.

    Reply
  8. shatraw

    fuck that, eick. this prick ripped you off. no self-respecting blogger with a great idea doesn’t google that shit first to make sure someone hasn’t beat him/her to the punch.

    the bottom line is he read it, figured he was big enough to get away with the snatch and proceded to poach your idea.

    you got jacked, dude. seriously.

    Reply
  10. shatraw

    well, so long as you’re comfortable with some other dude riding this to glory…

    Reply
  11. Youppi

    UM! via deadspin:

    “What we need, clearly, is a bracket of meat brackets, so MY meat bracket can face off against (and, of course, defeat) HIS meat bracket, along with the several others floating around out there.” – Paul Lukas

    Why would his (“of course”) defeat yours? Whatever. What a joneser…

    Reply
  12. yoe

    “Happily, there’s enough meat to go around for everyone…”

    judging by his headshot, i bet Lukas says that a lot…

    Reply
  13. Jenelle

    Ooh, I loves me a good controversy. Should have copyrighted this when I had the chance.

    Reply
  14. Lee

    I found out about your meat bracket via Paul’s blog which I read everyday.

    Let me settle this once and for all: Meat Brackets are a dumb idea, no matter who originates them.

    Done.

    Lee

    Reply
  15. Andrew

    I’ll side with the well spoken and polite fellow who signs off by saying “Cheers”, and not listen selfish, meat-hogging louts with a tremendously limited vocabulary like shatraw.

    Cheers,
    Andrew

    Reply
  17. Cary

    Dear Lee and Andrew,

    Nothing is settled. This is the internet. Nothing dies. Your calm demeanor tries to hide your intent, but not well.

    Also, “not listen selfish” isn’t a phrase at all. But perhaps you were too angry while typing, you lout.

    Cheers,
    Cary

    Reply
  18. Paul Lukas is a Douche

    HAHAHAHAHAHA I like the part where Andrew tries to show up Shatraw by goofing on his “tremendously limited vocabulary” then makes a huge grammatical error in his own post. The comedy writes itself, folks.

    Reply

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