The Finals are Set: Battle of the Reviews!

categories: Cocktail Hour

146 comments


The Finals are set: The Georgia Review vs. The Paris Review The voting has been extended to midnight Monday April9th.   Please vote for the finals in the comments section on this page.  You don’t have to be as witty as last time.  (We expect a much lower scoring game.)

Our scoring system is simple.  Each vote equals 2 points.  No 3-pointers.

Semis recaps: 

Despite Ecotone’s overwhelming homecourt advantage, the Georgia Review proved unstoppable.  After making it a game with a late rally, Ecotone’s Cinderella season came to an end, buried under a barrage of Georgia threes.

In the other bracket, The Paris Review steamrolled into the finals.  There is some arrogance in tradition (many voters, for instance, put the word “duh” after their votes for TPR), but in this case the arrogance was well-founded.  A classic performance that hints at a continued dynasty.

For lovers of the Paris Review (and as we have discovered, they are legion), we have a special treat planned for later next week.  It turns out that the staff archivist here at Bill and Dave’s has unearthed some rare footage of the time, previously known only through myth and rumor, when Paris Review Founding editor George Plimpton played Ecotone Founding Editor David Gessner in a game of one-on-one.  Say tuned!

Also, please read Bill’s Memories of the Sweet Sixteen.…such a close call for Tin House….

* * *

Finally, in fairness to the Oxford American, which is one of my favorite mags, both TGR and TPR rallied their fans on blogs.

In their post, The Paris Review wrote:

Dear readers,

This is a matter of honor. If you love and believe in The Paris Review, now is the time to show what our fans are made of. We are currently in the Final Four of the Bill and Dave’s Cocktail Hour Tournament of Literary Magazines.

Meanwhile in the AthensPatch, Rebecca McCarthy wrote:

Listen up, Bulldog Nation:

Turns out the University of Georgia does have a contender in the Final Four after all.

The Final Four of Literary Magazines.

Yep, under the boards, the Georgia Review has ruled, bruising and battering opponents right and left. If you’ve ever seen editor Stephen Corey crush a treadmill at the Athens YMCA, you’ve seen raw power.

The Final Four is held by Bill and Dave’s Cocktail Hour, an online site about all things literary, large and small. You have to comment on why the Georgia Review rocks in order to have your vote count.

So, you might ask, who is the Review facing?

A puny weakling. A nothing, we hope. Who is it? North Carolina-based Ecotones, unfortunately rumored to have a staff member who can pump in the commas as fast as Jeremy Lin can hit three-pointers.

The other contenders are The Paris Review and another Southern literary magazine, the risen-from-the-grave Oxford American.

Don’t worry. The Review can handle them.

Go, Dawgs!



  1. Tim writes:
  2. Tambien Aussi writes:

    The Paris Review.

  3. Steve writes:

    The Paris Review!

  4. John Lindberg writes:

    Georgia Review

  5. Jane McKinley writes:

    The Georgia Review, c/o Stephen Corey.

  6. Hugh Ruppersburg writes:

    Georgia Review!!!

  7. Michael writes:

    Paris Review ftw.

  8. Ron writes:

    The Georgia Review!

  9. N.D. Parker writes:

    Yaaaaaay Georgia Review!!!

  10. Rachel writes:

    The Paris Review!!

  11. Clarissa writes:

    TPR! TPR! TPR!

  12. bill paul writes:

    Love the Georgia Review/…

  13. Jerri writes:
    • Jerri writes:

      Now, I feel disloyal since Oxford American is here in Arkansas now. but I thought it too late to vote for it..

  14. Grant Maierhofer writes:

    THE PARIS REVIEW

  15. Kat writes:

    GEORGIA REVIEW!!!!

  16. Chris writes:

    The Paris Review.

  17. Josh writes:

    +1 for the Georgia Review

  18. Joycelyn Trigg writes:

    Georgia Review

  19. judith kitchen writes:

    If you’ll let girls play, then I’ll do my best for The Georgia Review!

    • I look forward to every issue. Each poem and piece of prose deftly placed into a journal that becomes greater than the sum of its parts. . .if that is possible. It is.

  20. Michael Crossan writes:

    The Paris Review will do.

  21. Arvid writes:

    TPR all the way.

  22. Savvy writes:

    Paris Review!

  23. William Preston writes:

    Paris Review burns brightly! (In metaphorical terms, of course. Can’t speak to the relative luminosity of the pages aflame.)

  24. Rocky Howe writes:

    The Paris Review.

  25. James K.A. Smith writes:

    No contest: Go Paris Review!

  26. Lucille Redmond writes:

    Definitely the Paris Review – chock-full of great pieces you can read online.

  27. ma ONeal writes:

    The Georgia Review, of course.

  28. Baynard Woods writes:

    Georgia Review

  29. TODD writes:

    The Paris Review!

  30. Robert writes:

    The Paris Review forever!

  31. Khristian writes:

    The Georgia Review.

  32. Cat Campbell writes:
  33. Brenda Keen writes:

    The Georgia Review rocks!