46 MENSHEALTH.COM | March 2015 Robert Willett/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT/Getty Images (fans) Pity the modern man’s pants: Today’s big smartphones and f at wallets co n - s pire to create some odd bulges. Thankfully, there’s hope: The phone wallet c ase pulls double duty to streamline your slacks and squelch any mixed signals a bout y our state of arousal. Matt Altschul, president and CEO of CM4, a com - pan y that designs and sells phone cases, points out ke y f eatures that keep y our device ding- f ree, y our Amex in place, and y our st y le dialed in. — G ILLIAN FRAN C ELL A The Material If your phone could talk, it would ask you to buy it a soft-touch rubber or sil- icone case to disperse shock. And Altschul recommends a fabric interior to swaddle your credit cards. If you choose to go the stylish route, opt for genuine leather. Just remember: an overstuffed Costanza wallet will lose its shape over time. To fix that, dab water on any stretched-out areas. As they dry, they’ll shrink to original size. The Stitching g A glued seam is a s p lit waiting to h a pp en, so look for stitching. C hoose nyl on t h rea d over cotton. F or one t hi ng, ny l on i s stronger, so i t can ta k e m ore case-crammin g abuse before breakin g . It’s also water-resistant, which means it won’t rot like cotton i f it gets wet (from rain or y our attempt to remold it ) . How do y ou tell the threads apart? Nylon is synthetic; it’ll a ppear sleek and shiny, not fibrous . The Portholes s C ases with narrowly cut access holes m a k e p l ugg i ng i n your h ea d p h ones o r charger a pain. Pretest by bringing y our add-ons to the store. To make s ure the y ’re secure, listen f or a click a s y ou i nsert t h e p l ug, Al tsc h u l sa y s . O UR FA V O R ITES TWO CA S E S THAT HIT ALL THE MARK S —AND LOOK G OOD DOIN G IT—ARE THE IFLIP W ALLET W W ( $30, I F L IPWALLET.COM ) AND THE L UG ANO W ALLET BY W W S ENA ($40, SENACASES.COM) . BUY Q Making a Case for the Phone Wallet The Phone Holster Aim for a skintight fit to keep sweat and crud out, says Altschul. And for screen protection, look for a beveled top edge that’s at least 1 millimeter high. To measure, go old-school: Bring a pencil to the store, slide the phone in the case, and place the graphite tip against the screen beside the bev- eled edge. The distance between the screen and top of the case should be about the same size as the tip. Is picking the winner of the Big Dance a crapshoot? You wish—that would imply that your odds were fathomable. But 68 teams going head-to-head in single-elimination games over six rounds leaves some 147 quintillion ways to blow your office bracket, says Sheldon Jacobson, Ph.D., a computer science professor at the Uni- versity of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign. (The number again: 147, followed by 18 zeros.) So Jacobson has calcu- lated an edge: The chart below shows the percentage of times each seed has won to advance to a new round since the play- off format was standardized in 1985. That’s 30 seasons of data at your fingertips. Pick a No. 16 seed to go all the way and you’re crazy—or seeking a permanent invite to the office pool. Take the Long Shot Yes, low-ranked teams typi- cally wash out of the first round. But 12th-placed seeds historically go 44-76 in their first games. That’s a 37 percent win record. Twenty have made the Sweet Sixteen, but that luck does run out: Only one has ever made it to the Final Four. Measure More Matchups Another Cinderella team that might win some early rounds? No. 11 seeds move on 34 per- cent of the time. And just over 40 percent of those victors ulti- mately make it to the Sweet Sixteen before being taken out. Forget Some Favorites Picking all four No. 1 seeds as your Final Four isn’t just lazy. It’s statistically stupid. There’s only a 1.7 percent shot of all making it. Three? A 12 percent chance. Two? Well, 32 percent of the time both may be there. It’s better to select one No. 1 to make it: That’s happened 38 percent of the time. —G.F. DATA BOMB BUILD A BREAKOUT BRACKET 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 SEED 0% 6% 15% 21% 37% 34% 39% 51% 49% 61% 66% 63% 79% 85% 94% 100% 0% 1% 2% 5% 17% 14% 18% 4% 9% 17% 33% 33% 46% 51% 64% 87% ROUND TWO 32 teams 0% 0% 0% 0% 1% 5% 6% 2% 7% 7% 11% 7% 16% 25% 47% 68% SWEET SIXTEEN 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 3% 0% 1% 4% 1% 3% 5% 0% 12% 22% 40% ELITE EIGHT 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 3% 1% 2% 3% 3% 8% 10% 23% FINAL FOUR 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 1% 1% 1% 0% 1% 3% 3% 15% THE BIG GAME Winning Percentage by Seeding per Round Since 1985* *The tournament includes four regions, so four teams always start out with the same seed designation. If they all reach the final four, three of those same-ranked seeds must lose to the other to advance. ROUND ONE 64 teams BRACKET ROUND GOOD CALL!