"Is Pumpkin Spice Dead?" The Shopping Trip (Part 2)

"Is Pumpkin Spice Dead?" The Shopping Trip (Part 2)

You can catch up on what's happening here and read about the first part of the shopping trip here. Otherwise, the quickest summary possible:

I am on a hunt to buy everything in this grocery store that is pumpkin spice flavored. To accomplish this mission, I've set up three ground rules:

  1. Any item labeled "Pumpkin Spice" must be purchased, no matter what it is.
  2. Anything that looks like it's trying to be pumpkin spice without actually calling itself pumpkin spice - "pumpkin flavored," "pumpkin and cinnamon," etc. - must also be purchased.
  3. Anything that seems just to be pumpkin product, minding its own business, ignoring current trends, can be ignored. Each of these products will be carefully considered on a case-by-case basis.

We now join the hunt in progress...

"Is Pumpkin Spice Dead?" The Shopping Trip (Part I)

"Is Pumpkin Spice Dead?" The Shopping Trip (Part I)

I have become convinced that Peak Pumpkin Spice is over. The era of creating a "Pumpkin Spice!" version of your product has come and gone. Only the pumpkin spice-flavored foods that people actually want remain - therefore, everything labeled "pumpkin spice" in the store must be able to stand up on its own feet as a product.

But the only way to prove that was to try everything pumpkin spice that still existed, and see if it merited existence. With that in mind, I drove to the grocery store to see what was left - and to buy all of it.

Smart NCAA Predictions: The 64-Team Nickname Battle

Smart NCAA Predictions: The 64-Team Nickname Battle

They say this is the year to go crazy with your picks.

Six teams held the No. 1 spot this year, one off the record for most changes in a season. Every time a team seemed poised to make a run, they'd crash and burn in a national TV game, or be upset at home by a no-name school. So everyone keeps guaranteeing that this is the year for true madness, where up is left and down is right and Dick Vitale explodes in a puff of enthusiastic confetti.

Of course, everyone says that, and then they pick maybe a 13-seed in the first round, or a 4-seed beating a 1-seed, then call it a day. Everyone's too scared to really make the leap and pick a truly insane bracket.

Well, maybe not everyone.

This bracket is chosen entirely by a random qualifier: team nickname. With each matchup, I compare the two teams' chosen nicknames* as if they are real entities, decide which one would win in a fight, and advance that team to the next round.

*We're talking about nicknames, not mascots. Could the guy in the Notre Dame costume defeat the sleepy Gonzaga bulldog in a no-holds-barred, death-is-the-only-escape cage match? Let's not pause to imagine it.  

There are worse ways to do this, really. Let's begin.