Last March, the “Pros vs. Joes Bracket Challenge” for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament was a hit with our readers. We are bringing it back.

Do we have a celebrity panel for you in the second annual “Pros vs. Joes” NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament bracket challenge presented by Sammie’s Pub and Lotto and Blackjacks On Commercial!

There are four former Trail Blazer players, three former University of Oregon basketball and baseball stars, two recent Oregon State football standouts, a U.S. senator, a former world boxing champion, an ex-major league outfielder, four sportscasters and a baseball team’s mascot.

These are the “Pros” who will compete with readers of kerryeggers.com in forecasting games during March Madness:

Darnell Valentine, Brian Grant, Johnny Davis, Lionel Hollins, Terrell Brandon, Dave Roberts, Doug “Cowboy” Little, Jack Colletto, Jaydon Grant, Ron Wyden, Stevie Forbes, Brady Clark, AJ McCord, Jamie Hudson, Nick Krupke, Orlando Sanchez and Dillon the Pickle.

Sign up for a fantasy account on espn.com and join the group 2023 Pros v. Joe’s here. Selection Sunday is March 12. Your picks are due before the first game on Thursday March 16.

Thanks to Sammie’s restaurant owners David and Tom Dieker for being our sponsors for the second straight year.

Readers of kerryeggers.com can make their picks for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and test their prognosticating ability against 18 “pros” who have agreed to lend their expertise to our contest.

Sammie’s operates five locations in the Salem area — Blackjack’s on Commercial, Sammie’s West, Sammies Five Sunnyslope, Sammie’s Pub and Lotto South and Sammie’s Keizer. 

No matter which establishment you visit, Sammie’s restaurants are known for their tasty pub food, great daily drink specials and the friendliest lottery rooms in the state of Oregon. (Sammie’s Keizer is without lottery options at this point.)

Winners in both the “Pros” and “Joes” categories will receive a $50 gift certificate from Sammie’s. A $25 “booby” prize will go to the last-place entrant among both “Pros” and “Joes.”

Second through fifth place among the “Joes” will receive an autographed copy of “Wherever You May Be … Now: The Bill Schonely Story.

It’s hard to be humble when you are the overall champion of the 2022 Bracket Challenge on kerryeggers.com. “It’s a sign that I’m still connected, still relevant,” says Darnell Valentine, the former Trail Blazer guard who now works as chief diversity officer at Precision Castparts in Portland. “It’s good to feel like you’re not over the hill, that you have some some insight. It has allowed me to have a moment of reflection that I am proud of. The real test is when I have to go outside of a guess and see what I’m really made of this time.”

Actually, all Valentine did last year was pick his alma mater, Kansas, to win. Even then, he qualified it at the time with, “It’s wide open this year. You throw a dart and you’re going to have just as good a chance as anybody else.” So will he go with his Jayhawks again this year? “I don’t think so,” says Valentine, who played in Portland from 1981-86. “They are better than I thought they would be, but there is too much parity in college basketball this season.”

There is no dispute that Nick Krupke is a busy man. The Mount Vernon, Wash., native and Washington State grad has four daughters with wife Stephanie, ages 10, 8, 4, 2. “Usually, it’s cool,” Nick says. “From Wednesday through Friday, my wife works at a hospital. I’m in charge those days. No alone time for Nick!” Krupke is coming upon his 10th anniversary as sports anchor at KPTV-TV. He is a bit of a professional at picking college basketball games. “I have followed the Big Dance since I was a kid filling out paper brackets, then moving online, and going back to paper,” he says. “I’m a one-bracket guy. Hopefully the chips fall just right to win the Eggers Bracket Challenge.”

The improbable story of Jaydon Grant is one that captivated Beaver Nation, a tale that covered seven football seasons, beginning with a whimper and ending with a roar. Grant came back from a serious internal injury to go the entire way in Oregon State’s 38-34 Civil War victory over Oregon. The son of ex-Trail Blazer Brian Grant has been training in Fort Worth, Texas, in preparation for the NFL draft April 27-29. Jaydon spent a week in Orlando and participated in the Jan. 14 Hula Bowl, which he says “was a good experience.” Now, he hopes for a chance to make an NFL roster next season. Before all of that, he is eager to see who comes out on top picking games in the Bracket Challenge between him and Pops. “Probably me,” Jaydon predicts.

Former Trail Blazers forward Brian Grant, diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2005, has been on a recent health kick. “Working on my physical well-being and shedding some pounds, which I’m finally starting to do,” Grant says. Grant is also working on restarting a motivational speaking business that grew dormant during Covid. Brian now lives in Milwaukie and will be joined at home this summer by two daughters, Maliah (Loyola Marymount) and Anaya (Colorado) once the school year is over. Grant has filled out brackets “a couple of times” through the years and will do one this year for Oddball Brothers Shoe Company, “because they have a good bracket party.” As for personal competition with son Jaydon in kerryeggers.com’s bracket challenge, “It’s safe to say he is probably going to buck me up.”

Oregon’s senior U.S. senator played basketball at Cal Santa Barbara, so he may have an edge in the Bracket Challenge. “I can only hope,” Senator Ron Wyden says, “that my record in making tournament picks tops my stats in two years of playing college basketball, where the best that can be said is, I made up for being too short by being too slow.” Wyden’s interest in sports is parallel to that of politics, especially when college hoops is under the spotlight. “I look forward to watching all the fantastic story lines of March Madness,” he says.

The No. 1 pick in the 1972 major league draft has never filled out an NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament bracket. “I’m OK with college basketball, but don’t really watch much,” says Dave Roberts, the Corvallis High grad and former Oregon star. “Pro football is about all I watch. I don’t even watch much (major league) baseball anymore, the way the game is played now — swinging for the fences, all the analytics and stuff. I still love the game, but I’m old-school.” After retiring following a 10-year big-league career, Roberts managed the short-A Eugene Emeralds for a season. Then he embarked on an MLB scouting career that ran from 1985-2019, with stints in Cleveland, Oakland, Detroit, Tampa Bay and Miami. He lived in Beaverton from 1987 to 2005 when he moved to Fort Worth, Texas., his current home. Roberts stepped away from scouting for one year to be a player agent, but that was enough. “I started my own company in an effort to be at home more,” Roberts says. “It went well, except that there were so many slimy people trying to take clients away from me. I didn’t know it was going to be quite like that.”

She is so dedicated to participation in the Bracket Challenge, Jamie Hudson checked in during a short vacation stop in Oahu. “Seventy seven and sunny,” the Portland sportscaster reported. Hudson, a Kittitas, Wash., native and Gonzaga grad, worked for nine years in a variety of roles at NBC Sports Northwest. For the past two years, she has served as head coach of the JV2 team and assistant coach for the girls basketball varsity at Lincoln High. Hudson, married to Trail Blazers’ graphic operator/designer John McConnell, serves as pre- and post-game TV host for Blazer road games and also works part-time as an anchor, reporter and weather person at KOIN-TV. As for the NCAA Tournament, “I always fill out a bracket. I try to do my homework. I like to see how teams are doing in their conference play.” Is she partial to the Zags? “I usually have a Gonzaga bracket, and then another bracket,” Jamie says with a laugh.

If 2022 were a fish, Doug Little would throw it back. Kidney failure contributed to the former Oregon basketball star having his right leg amputated. In the fall, he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer and underwent radiation. He continues to do dialysis three days a week. “It was a bad year,” says the man known as “Cowboy” when he played for Dick Harter in the early 1970s. The former lumber broker, now living with wife Carla in Wilsonville, is a darkhorse favorite to claim the 2023 Pros vs. Joes championship. “When I was at American International (in 1987), I picked Indiana with Steve Alford to win the whole thing, and they won,” Little says. “I won $200 or $300.”

There is no question Orlando Sanchez enjoys his job as sports anchor and reporter at KGW-TV, where he has worked since 2016. “I love being able to tell people’s stories,” says Sanchez, an Albuquerque native and University of New Mexico grad. “I love to give local athletes a platform, a spotlight. And ultimately, when I knew I wasn’t good enough to play sports at the the college level, I still wanted to be involved. There is nothing sweeter than to be around the atmosphere of a big-time game.” Sanchez gets more interested when the hometown team is relevant. “When the Lobos are good,” he says, “I’m locked in a lot more. I like filling out a bracket. It’s a lot of fun. I usually do it with my buddies. Throw in a few bucks and trash talk.”

The rookie who started alongside Lionel Hollins in the backcourt for the Trail Blazers during the 1977 Championship series against Philadelphia now lives in Asheville, N.C., focusing on work with the NBA Retired Players Association the past three years. “I enjoy it,” says Johnny Davis, who played the first two of his 10 NBA seasons with Portland. “It’s a way for me to give back to a game I got so much from. A lot of the members of the board are guys I played with or against, or coached against. I’m trying to make things better for those who some day will be retired players.” After retiring as a player, Davis was twice a head coach — in Philadelphia and Orlando — and served as an assistant with the Blazers, Hawks, Clippers, Nets, Magic, Timberwolves, Pacers, Grizzlies, Raptors and Lakers. “I miss certain aspects of playing in the NBA — the competition, getting players ready, the nature of the game,” he says. “I don’t miss the travel, but I do miss the camaraderie, the relationships you build. Coaching was great, too. It is the next-best thing to playing.”

A 1991 Sunset High grad, Brady Clark played parts of nine seasons in the major leagues, an outfielder who batted a solid .277 in 785 games from 2000-08. His best season was 2005, when he hit .306 with 13 home runs in 145 games for the Brewers. Clark lives in Portland and works part-time doing sales in investment banking. “I’m looking for something more regular,” he says, which he hopes will mean an opportunity coaching in MLB. “Ultimately, I’d like to get three more years for my pension,” he says. “I love baseball and would love to get back involved.” Clark has two teenage daughters attending school at Jesuit High. “It’s been fun to be around to watch them grow up,” he says.

What is life like these days for Terrell Brandon? “Kids, kids, kids,” he says with a laugh. The former Grant High and Oregon star had a successful 11-year NBA career, twice making the All-Star Game. Retired since 2003, Brandon has three children. The oldest, Trevor, is 32 and out of the roost, but Terrell Jr. is 13 and daughter Ava is 12. “Ava plays tennis and golf and Terrell is into taekwondo,” their father says. “I’m lugging them everywhere.” Brandon owns a barber shop and runs a private school, “Multitudes of Mercies,” in Northeast Portland, not far from where he grew up. Despite four surgeries during his playing days — three to knees and one to repair a broken tibia — he remains in good shape, “walking every day, doing my push-ups and sit-ups.” Does he miss the NBA?  “I miss the paychecks,” he says, “but not the traveling, hotels and all that stuff. I’m 53 years old. I had my time.”

Known as “Two Pound” and “Stevie” during his heyday, Steve Forbes had a successful 18-year pro boxing career that carried him to the IBF super featherweight championship from 2000-02 — one of two Portlanders (joining Denny Moyer) ever to hold a world title. The Grant High grad and Beaverton resident started his pro career 32-3 and finished 36-14; two of his losses were 12-round decisions to Oscar de la Hoya and then-reigning world welterweight champ Andre Berto. Forbes was promoting boxing events in Portland before Covid hit and hopes to have a card read “sometime in April or May.” Meantime, he is doing some personal training for fitness and is driving rideshare to pay the bills. Forbes doesn’t closely follow college basketball and has never filled out a bracket, “but I’m going to give it a go,” he says. “I think it will be fun.”

If there has been a more popular athlete than Jack Colletto in Oregon State’s 130 years of intercollegiate sports, let him/her come forward and take a bow. The Beavers’ Swiss Army knife sensation capped his career by winning the Paul Hornung Award as the nation’s most versatile college football player in December. The Camas, Wash., native was selected first-team All-Pac-12 as a senior this past season. He has spent time after the Beavers’ 30-3 Las Vegas Bowl throttling of Florida training in Los Gatos, Calif., in preparation for the NFL draft April 27-29. Colletto missed the Shrine Bowl with what he calls a “minor” knee injury but has high hopes to make an NFL roster next season. “What I’m focusing on,” he says, “is working my butt off, showing up every day and giving myself the best opportunity.”

San Diego native AJ McCord worked as sports reporter and anchor at KOIN-TV for five years before moving to Tucson, Ariz., last summer. Since then, the Point Loma Nazarene grad has been freelancing in the broadcast world, including studio work for college football and basketball and reporting for Pac-12 Network. She was host for the weekly “Talking Beavers” studio show on Root. McCord has been in Hawaii for the last month, providing commentary for the World Surf League (it airs on worldsurfleague.com) on the North Shore of Oahu. She heads to Portugal soon for another WSL assignment. “I’m having fun,” AJ says.

The other starting guard on the Blazers’ 1977 championship team is in his first season as an assistant coach with the Houston Rockets. Lionel Hollins had been out of coaching for a year when head coach Stephen Silas called. “He asked if I wanted to coach again,” Hollins says. “I said, ‘Yeah.’ I was pretty much thinking I was retired, but I’ve enjoyed working with Stephen. I would enjoy it more, though, if we were winning.” The Rockets have the NBA’s worst record at (update this: currently 13-47). After an 11-year NBA playing career, Hollins was three times a head coach, twice with the Grizzlies — first in Vancouver, then in Memphis — and with the Brooklyn Nets from 2014-16. Hollins has also been an assistant with the Suns, Grizzlies, Bucks and Lakers. He says he never fills out an NCAA Tournament bracket. “I’ll do it for you, though,” he says with a laugh.

In the inaugural Bracket Challenge on kerryeggers.com, Dillon the Pickle finished last among the Pros. “Last year wasn’t what we wanted,” says the mascot of the Portland Pickles of the West Coast Baseball League. “We owe our fans a championship this time. We’re going to bring it home with this March Madness tournament bracket.” Dillon, born in 2016, is only seven years old but is already “internationally loved, a traveler, a community servant and an entrepreneur.” He has performed at festivals throughout the country, including South by Southwest and the world’s largest pickle festival, the Big Dill in Baltimore. Quite the wunderkind.

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