[BHW2436]

Stonington

Milford

Guilford

New Haven


Losers Bracket:


Groton

Portland

East Haddam

Canton

Southington

Wethersfield

New Milford

New London

Middlebury

Waterford

Clinton

Salisbury

North Stonington

Hartford

Woodstock

Westbrook

[ProudFairfielder]

Originally Posted by ctcoldplay11

Colchester's town green is also the centerpiece of the town

Wow, that second picture looks fantastic! I've been to Colchester a bit but that makes me want to see more.

[Danny K]

Originally Posted by ProudFairfielder

Wow, that second picture looks fantastic! I've been to Colchester a bit but that makes me want to see more.

Colchester honestly has a nice town center. It's mostly rural, but I do really love the green around the town center and the community does have a very unique feeling. Might be one of my favorite mostly rural towns in the state along with Lyme & Portland.

[ProudFairfielder]

Deadline: Tuesday, April 16 at 11:59pm Connecticut Time.


Winners Bracket:

Fairfield vs Stonington - I get we are getting into the later rounds of the tournament now. I am happy to defend my choice if needed. For now though, I will quote a completely unbiased opinion: last summer, when some people from Hartford County came to view Southport Harbor, they said "Wow, this is more beautiful than Mystic." Yes, Stonington has Barn Island. We have the Pine Creek Marshes. Stonington has Dubois Beach. Fairfield has way more, and honestly, it's probably easier to find empty space on a Fairfield beach given how much larger they are relative to the number of visitors. PLUS all of the extra amenities Fairfield has that Stonington doesn't. And if you want rural Greenfield Hills and Hoyden's Hill exist too. Did you guys know Fairfield has part of a state forest??

Milford vs Madison - Probably my #2 after Fairfield. Milford is nice, but Madison is incredible.

Guilford vs Litchfield - Hallmark town faceoff. The one with the unique coastline does it for me.

New Haven vs Old Saybrook - Okay, I'm doing this one last.


Losers Bracket:

Note: Still a number of towns that have not entered the Losers Bracket yet. We will have the losers back in Round 4 Winners Bracket enter in Round 7, and the most recent losers from Round 5 Winners Bracket enter in Round 9. Just be patient. We've got a number of rounds to go through before getting there!

Haddam vs Groton - For whoever said "why did Groton make it this far?" I have to say Groton may be the single most underrated town in the entire state. Between miles and miles of absolutely stunning coastline, (Bluff, Groton Long Point, Noank, etc... ), actually having a nice mix of small town vibes and medium size town amenities (including good employment right in town via the sub base and EB), coastal history... it is SO much more than its reputation.

Oxford vs Portland

East Haddam vs Monroe

Canton vs Cheshire

Durham vs Southington

Darien vs Wethersfield - Riding the Darien train for preserving Great Island

New Milford vs Colchester - Marketing on this forum works. That stunning winter picture of the green did it for me.

Washington vs New London - NL will probably lose but just like Groton it's seriously underrated and on the up & up

Bethel vs Middlebury

Waterford vs Shelton - all of NL county is underrated. Seriously people, these towns are stunning. Put Fairfield there and I could practically auto-select NL county every time (at least the coastal ones)

Clinton vs Roxbury - had to think about this one for a second - one of the weakest shoreline towns with one of the strongest inland towns

Salisbury vs Cromwell - so unique. it can't die yet.

Deep River vs North Stonington - I like North Stonington more than most, but sorry.

Lyme vs Hartford - also quite underrated.

Woodstock vs Bridgewater - surprisingly pretty. Also on the direct NYC-Boston route.

Westbrook vs New Canaan - I love the beach, can't you tell?


So there we have it!!! Oh Gosh, this is starting to get extremely tough now!!!! The Losers Bracket is also NO JOKE now, and you're probably going to have to start thinking through a few Losers Bracket matchups now!!! Who's Ready for Round 6!!!

[ProudFairfielder]

Okay:

New Haven vs Old Saybrook - People really hate cities on this forum. NH has SO many good areas, WAY more culture than any of the other big 5 (NH culture via its pizza is known across the entire country now). The city really deserves these votes. Plus, Old Saybrook has way fewer sandy beaches than I thought.

[BHW2436]

You guys are funny.

Who needs viagra when you have a photo of the Colchester town green?

Doesn’t take much to please around here

[Danny K]

Individual County Performances so far this Tournament:

Here are the current ranks of county performances so far:

1. New Haven County
2. New London County
3. Middlesex County
4. Fairfield County
5. Hartford County
6. Litchfield County
7. Windham County
8. Tolland County

New Haven County is leading, and that is fairly expected. However, it is performing slightly above expectations. The biggest towns like Milford, New Haven, and Guilford have been winning by increased margins. Madison is currently performing as expected. However, smaller towns like: Cheshire, Woodbridge, Southbury, West Haven, North Branford, Oxford, and Orange have been exceeding expectations (some by a lot), and going further than expected.

New London County is greatly exceeding expectations. Stonington so far is performing as expected, but the margins are very tight in the fixture vs Fairfield so far. They are currently the slight underdogs against Fairfield but are keeping up and the tie is very much in play. East Lyme has widened its winning margins. Old Lyme has been completely exceeding expectations. Then smaller towns like: Salem, Colchester, Lyme, North Stonington, and New London have also greatly exceeded expectations already, with 4 of them still alive in the tournament.

Middlesex County is slightly exceeding expectations. The big 3: Old Saybrook, Essex, and Middletown are performing as expected. The three of them are very slightly exceeding expectations by wider margins than expected. Next tier towns like: Clinton, Chester, Deep River, East Haddam, Haddam, Killingworth, and Portland have greatly exceeded expectations.

Fairfield County on the other hand is really underperforming and some of the towns performances have been disastrous. Fairfield has been fine, but Westport and Ridgefield have been winning by decreased margins. Norwalk relegated to the losers bracket a round earlier than expected. Greenwich and Stamford have been up to expectations. Stratford, Redding, Bridgeport, Darien, and many of the other towns have had disastrous performances in this tournament.

Hartford County is pretty much performing to expectations. However, some towns have been exceeding expectations, while others have been underperforming. Southington, Wethersfield, Marlborough, and Simsbury have so far exceeded expectations. Canton, Rocky Hill, Glastonbury, New Britain, and Newington have been underperforming. Glastonbury's winning margins have been very concerning this tournament.

Litchfield County has been a COMPLETE DISASTER so far. Litchfield and Kent are the only towns meeting expectations. Washington, Roxbury, Bethlehem, Thomaston, Salisbury, Sharon, and Woodbury have been pretty disastrous and greatly underperforming. It's not been a good tournament for Litchfield County so far.

Windham & Tolland Counties always tend to be the bottom performing counties, so not much to report on them. Windham County is slightly edging Tolland this tournament. It often rotates between which of those is the worst performing county. Windham is ahead and Tolland is the last in this one.

[Danny K]

Originally Posted by ProudFairfielder

(NH culture via its pizza is known across the entire country now).

Speaking of New Haven Pizza, has anyone here tried Zeneli Pizzeria? Zeneli is actually Neapolitan pizza, NOT Apizza; however, many New Haven residents feel it's the best and better than any of the apizza places.

I personally like Neapolitan pizza the best and feel it is the most unique in the world (exception of Chicago Deep Dish).

Recently, a lot of New Haven residents and people living in the surrounding CT towns were talking about Zeneli's and how their pizza is from a completely different place across the world and it is beating the authentic New Haven locally owned Pepe's, Modern, and Zuppardi's in quality. Zeneli's is very authentic Neapolitan and might be the best Neapolitan you'll find in the state.

[Champ le monstre du lac]

Winners Bracket:

Fairfield vs Stonington - At the moment Connecticut is for visiting and not for living (though I'd be happy to live there). From this perspective, Stonington is my favorite town in the state. It just has a lovely vintage and nautical New England feel and quick access to some of the best beaches around.

Milford vs Madison - This is a tough one as I'd normally pick a Shoreline East town by default. But both towns have a nice coastline and then Milford packs in more amenities. I'm gonna go with Milford. I'm not that big on the suburbs, but Milford is pretty good.

Guilford vs Litchfield - Litchfield is nice, but Guilford is overall more attractive with its lovely town green (probably the best in the state) and shoreline.

New Haven vs Old Saybrook - New Haven, easy choice for me. In most cases I'm with WouldLoveto where I'd pick the town over the city and I did move to Vermont to be away from the rat race as I despise traffic. And I type this as I'm currently on a two week biz trip in Chicago and loving it. I wouldn't want to be too distant from the cities and I still like to visit them. Many cities in New Haven's middle of the pack size bracket are struggling and can be really unattractive (think Springfield, Waterbury, Syracuse etc...). But New Haven easily outperforms them with a great walkable downtown, stately architecture, a world class university, and the FOOD. Yeah the food in New Haven puts it over the edge and makes it quite worthy for that alone.

Losers Bracket:

Haddam vs Groton - As others have said, beyond Groton's gritty downtown and industrial areas, it covers a lot of ground and incorporates nautical villages, rocky shoreline and sandy beaches, and some very scenic waterfront parks. It really the runs the gamut with a diverse range of neighborhoods and points of interest. A very nice place for the middle class.

Oxford vs Portland

East Haddam vs Monroe - East Haddam is pretty special and has some of the most interesting landmarks in the state (Gillette Castle/Goodspeed Opera House) with nice rugged topography. I think it should have pulled further, but it won't overcome the desirable suburbs. I swear if Fairfield wins this, I'm gonna let out a big yawn. Not because it's boring or unlikable, just too predictable.

Canton vs Cheshire - Honestly I don't know much about either town, but Canton is an ugly name for a town and Cheshire is more easy on the ears so I'm going with it.

Durham vs Southington

Darien vs Wethersfield

New Milford vs Colchester

Washington vs New London - Mixed thoughts on New London as it seems to have unmet potential. It won't ever be a Portsmouth or a Newport. But man, what a beautiful deep water harbor its got.

Bethel vs Middlebury

Waterford vs Shelton - Look beyond the Nuke plant and dead malls and you'll find some very scenic beaches and shoreline.

Clinton vs Roxbury

Salisbury vs Cromwell - I'm a hiker, so Salisbury on my radar for some of the prettiest terrain in the state. If you want to experience fall glory in New England, this is the place.

Deep River vs North Stonington - I've previous picked North Stonington for the sole reason of piggy backing off of the OG Stonington. But Deep River is one of those scenic Connecticut River valley towns that I like.

Lyme vs Hartford - Lyme is a pretty town, but Hartford wins as I've changed my mind on the city and offers more than I've previously acknowledged. I actually like it when a place wins me over when I previously had a negative view about it. It's not nearly as appealing as New Haven, but I'm interested to see what the future holds for Hartford.

Woodstock vs Bridgewater

Westbrook vs New Canaan

[diydesign]

Winner’s bracket:

Stonington
Milford
Guilford
New Haven

Loser’s Bracket:

Groton
Portland
East Haddam
Canton
Durham
Wethersfield
New Milford
New London
Bethel
Waterford
Roxbury
Salisbury
Deep River
Lyme
Woodstock
Westbrook