It’s March, and the NCAA tournament is about to start, which means its time for the third annual So Good food bracket/tournament. In 2009 we melted minds with the introduction of Meat Madness, a month-long, 32 meat tournament in which your vote got to determine the greatest meat in existence. Then, last year, we brought it again, with our epic Fast Food Bracket, which drew over 50,000 total votes and culminated in a stunning 3-way final vote.

This year, we’re getting bigger, better and badder, expanding our field from 32 to 64 competitors. Today, So Good is proud to bring you: Snack Madness.

(Click bracket for larger view)

So you’ve looked at the bracket. You’re intrigued but you have questions. So lets review how this year’s bracket was created. Snacks is an incredibly broad category, so I had to be discriminatory. For example, candy? No dice. You ain’t part of this. With the exception of one bracket devoted entirely to cookies, this battle is focused on salt, salt and more salt. And carbs. Salty, crunchy carbs. You aren’t gonna find any beef jerky or fruit roll-ups in this bracket. That’s just the way it is folks, deal with it.

Also, no snack cakes i.e. Little Debbie, Twinkies etc. Someone did a Snack Bracket last year devoted entirely to snack cakes. Not only is there no need to repeat that, but I never ate those food. Don’t now, and didn’t as a kid. Let’s be honest people, sometimes it really is All. About. Me.

I tried to segment snacks into categories. A cookie bracket. A potato chip bracket. A cracker bracket, and a bracket to encompass all the other salty snacks that don’t neatly fall into one of those categories. As always, not everything is perfect. I wouldn’t, for example, call Combos a cracker, but we had to fit them in somewhere. The potato chip bracket gets a little thin at the back, and the Misc. Snack bracket has some good competitors who might put up a fight in a different bracket. Such is life.

As with previous tournaments, you can vote on whatever factors you like: cost, taste, availability, diversity of product line. Vote however you wish. Many of these brands encompass a variety of products. There are tons of Doritos flavors. You may love some, and hate others. Feel free to factor both of those feelings into your vote. Or say, Chips Ahoy! You may hate the regular but love the Chewy. Weigh these factors as you wish.

So how does this whole shebang work you want to know? Well, print out your bracket. Make your predictions for who you think will win, or just fill it out with your own preferences to determine your personal #1 snack. Set up an office pool.  I’m aware of a bunch of office pools that people got going for both Meat Madness and The Fast Food Bracket. Whateves. Just get into it people.

Then, return to So Good on Wednesday at noon. Each day, voting on four first round match-ups will take place from 12 pm to 12 pm the next day, with the first round wrapping at the end of next week. Then we’ll keep voting on a new match-up each day, until about a month from now we will crown the greatest snack in America according to So Good readers.

Fun? Sounds fun to me. It better sound fun to you.

Well So Good readers, what are your thoughts on the bracket? Who got hosed on the seeding? Who is your early favorite in each region? Who are your sleeper picks? Who are YOU pulling for? What are the toughest first round match-ups to decide? Let us know in the comments, lets get some debate going before the voting starts on Wednesday.

– Eick

19 Responses

  1. Sethonious

    Lays has got to be an early round upset. They are the most overated number one seed in the tournament. The offense lacks snap, and their defense is just thin. As a contender, just generally underwhelming. If they don’t fall to Bettermade in the first round, Dirty gets them on their heels early in the first half and doesn’t miss a free throw in the second half to send em home early.

    P.S. this is a GREAT Bracket!

    Reply
  2. Youppi

    YES! SoGood food brackets are better than the real NCAA brackets! About 4 people in my office came here before I did. They love it, Eick!

    Have to say, just after a quick review, I’m kinda sad that Utz has to go up against Dirty in the Chips Bracket. I love both so much.

    Also, I understand that Animal Crackers aren’t very versatile, like you can’t eat them with cheese, like a Ritz, and they don’t come in assorted flavors, but an 8 seed??? and Teddy Grahams a 12 seed?!?!?!?!

    ALSO; wow, Fig Newtons is going to meet up with Chips Ahoy no doubt, and that will be a tough, tough matchup…

    Nice work this year, Eick!!

    Reply
  4. Sophia

    This is my new favorite blog!! Ok this is a really dumb question but what do the numbers mean in parentheses I’ve never seen a bracket like that. (I’m more of a swimmer) is it popularity???

    Reply
  5. Eick

    Hey Sophia, thanks for reading! The numbers in brackets are the “seed” of each competitor. It basically means who is the favorite (i.e Oreo is considered “better” or “more popular” than Mrs. Fields).

    The seeds become irrelevant once the voting begins though, anyone can win and any lower seed could knock off a higher seed if they get more votes!

    Reply
  6. Marisa

    I’m probably the only person I know who’ll admit I like Combos, but I know they’re gonna get crushed by Wheat Thins.

    It’s a shame my regional favorite Tim’s Cascade Chips aren’t in the running, so I’ll probably root for Kettle or Terra.

    Reply
  8. Wine Traveler

    Marisa I guess you haven’t tried Pop Chips if you think anyone else has a chance. Even our local Tim’s Cascades would fall. Oreo’s have the cookie Bracket and Wheat Thins probably the Cracker Bracket, Misc is the wild card but probably Cracker Jack with Pop Chips the over all winner

    Reply
  9. Jay LaJoie

    Terra Chips are not only healthy for you.. they provide an awesome flavor. I’m in on Terra…especially the TERRA BLUES !!

    Reply

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