Day 2 Recap

After a slight delay, here's a breakdown from Day 2 of the tournament:

(11) Cinnamon Life defeats (6) Golden Crisp
The committee nearly overlooked Cinnamon Life during the selection process, but could they be this tournament's VCU? Golden Crisp maintains a good texture in milk, however, the reviews consistently compared the sweetened rice puffs to carmel corn. Unfortunately for the Crisp, our testers aren't big fans of carmel corn. On the other side, Cinnamon Life still had a passable texture after soaking in milk and the flavor was sweet without overwhelming the palette.

(14) Quaker Oatmeal Squares defeats (3) Rice Krispies
The biggest shocker of the first round, Oatmeal Squares offered a nice sweet taste with a crispy texture -- even after soaking. Rich in tradition but low on taste and absorbing milk like a Sham-Wow, Snap, Crackle and Pop were jettisoned from the tournament much earlier than expected despite a long track record of happy childhood memories.

(10) Cocoa Puffs defeats (7) Waffle Crisp
A heated battle from the start, some members of our panel were exposed to Waffle Crisp for the first time and came away pleasantly surprised. Opening the box unleashes a scent that reminded many of elementary school cafeterias on waffle/french toast day. Still, Cocoa Puffs had an irresistible combination of flavor and texture while the chocolate-leaning panel couldn't help but go cuckoo.


(2) Honey Bunches of Oats defeats (15) Basic 4
Basic 4 was a pesky foe in this one, hanging around much longer than the flavorless Grape Nuts did as a 16-seed against Honey Nut Cheerios on the other side of this regional. Texture wise, this was a fair matchup as both cereals wilted a bit after submersion, but the sweeter honey taste and delicious clusters in HBO earned the nod over the fruit pieces and nuts in Basic 4.