NBS BIF #17 Hints and Hauls: Subaru Drivers Won't Keep Us From Our Magic Water Breakfast

My target is apparently still wandering in the dark, so it's time to drop another hint. Given that the NCAA tournament is now complete, let's revisit it one last time.

Hint #10: As previously discussed, my target's state was represented this year in the NCAA tournament - and I will now clarify that they were represented on both sides of the bracket, men's and women's, and by the same school. Both teams were eliminated prior to reaching the Elite Eight, but that's not particularly noteworthy (although the state is well known for basketball, as I mentioned).

No, what's noteworthy is that the men's and women's team from the same school were both defeated ... by the same school (from a state not particularly known for basketball).

 

But I didn't get the chance to drop my Hermoine Granger clue!

You, sir, are CORRECT. Hint decoding to follow for those playing along at home.

 

Hint breakdown!

Hint #1: My target has never received the fabled cushion. According to the cushion itself, Sir @ovaltine has never been the recipient. Perhaps that will change this round ...

Hint #2: Rocky Balboa Statue. This one requires the most explanation.

Rocky is famously from Philadelphia, PA. His statue is in PA. However, the real-life inspiration for Rocky, Chuck Wepner, was not at all from PA (much less Philly).

In a previous round of this BIF, I somehow got my states mixed up and thought Mike was from PA, and I screwed up my hints because of it. Ever since, I've played with that joke. So Mike - one of our most famous "PA" participants - like Rocky, does not live in PA.

Hints 4, 6, 7, 10 (NCAA Tournament): Indiana, Connecticut, and Florida (Mike's state, my adopted state, and my home state) were all represented on both sides of the tournament this year.

Indiana is quite famous for college basketball; Florida, not so much. Despite that, 75% of the Final Four came from my two states, including the Miami Hurricanes, who defeated Indiana on both sides of the bracket - shockingly.

That's right: my hometown Cocaine Cowboys came and stole basketball from Indiana ... for one season, anyway.

(Congrats to CT, BTW!)

Hint #5: In an absolute shocker, Mike lives North of me. Look it up. That's a total of three points for North and West - and three is my favorite number. (There isn't much of Indiana that is North of any of Connecticut, but, well, here we are!)

Hint #8: I was sure I'd shipped to Mike before, but I only have tracking data back to round #12, so I could be 100% sure if it was a revenge box, a ninja box, or as an official pairing.

Hints 3, 9: With Terry and Ian sitting out this round, Mike is one of the only BIFers left who has reviewed more beers than I - I think @russpowell may be the only other, but I'd have to check. That said, while I have reviewed more beers from Tree House and Fox Farm, Mike has reviewed a shocking amount of both, considering his location. I can still add to those numbers, though.

My unused hints: I have been my target's official target before (true); my target has been participating in this BIF longer than I have tracking data (true); and a picture of Hermoine Granger (that was going to be the final nail in the clue coffin).

 

Just explained it.

I tried to make my clues this round "elimination" clues, instead of confirmation clues. If you were tracking everyone's clues via spreadsheet (cough @snaotheus ), it would be pretty easy to have figured out my target by process of elimination. If, however, you were really just tracking for yourself, you'd only know if you were in the game or not - and not, necessarily, how many other people were.

Like, if you look up the college bracket, most of those hints kept most participants in play for a long while - basically until the very end. (I suppose you could say Utah isn't particularly well known for basketball, but that's a very subjective hint - except obviously it applies to Indiana!)

I couldn't be shipping Northeast based on state adjacency, but everything else was in play. Even knowing I was shipping Northwest, WA, ID, and MI were still in play.

Anyone who's reviewed more Tree House or Fox Farm would similarly have already been eliminated by state adjacency.

Really, until clues 8 and 9, I think, I hadn't outright obviously eliminated too many people (ignoring state adjacency, which eliminated three, and region, which eliminated another two, albeit via a soft limit).

But the Rocky statue was an inside joke that, if grasped, gave it away super early.