Pizza Pandemonium, Sweet 16: Vote for your favorite pizza toppings in this year’s bracket

Brackets are on everyone’s mind as we head deeper into the second week of March Madness. But with one of the craziest Sweet 16 fields in years slated to begin Thursday, all we can think about is planning our pizza order for the upcoming games. 

And with that, we welcome you to Pizza Pandemonium, in which we ask you to vote on the best pizza toppings of all time. Pizza innovation has certainly come a long way in recent years, but for our purposes, imagine a base pie (crust, sauce, cheese) and be prepared to build from there. 

Our bracket is filled with old classics like pepperoni and mushrooms, but it also features a few Cinderellas ready for their shocking upsets — looking at you, anchovies. Our bracket is separated into two regions featuring meats/cheese and vegetables/fruits, fittingly labeled the Hunter Region and Gatherer Region. 

Sweet 16 voting will take place on our Cover 3 Podcast Twitter account with links embedded into the article below. Check back with CBS Sports as 16 toppings become eight, and pretty soon, we will have our national champion. Place your bets now. 

Pizza Pandemonium bracket

Voting for every round round is being held via tweets from our Cover 3 Podcast account as embedded below. 

Hunter Region

(1) Pepperoni vs. (8) Anchovies

(1) Pepperoni: The No. 1 overall seed, pepperoni on pizza is an American institution. When you close your eyes and think of a pizza in your mind, it is probably adorned with pepperoni. Granted, pizza has expanded and grown past pepperoni in recent years. Could an upset be on the table? 

(8) Anchovies: The anchovy is perhaps the most maligned ingredient in the storied history of pizza. The small, salted fish is a key ingredient of many Italian dishes; it’s also used as a base for Caesar dressing and Worcestershire sauce. On pizza, anchovies can provide a salty, unique flavor. People either love it or hate it. 

(4) Bacon vs. (5) Ham

(4) Bacon: Bacon had a moment about a decade ago when it took over our cultural consciousness. It’s over now, but bacon is still a strong supporting player in the pizza game. And some still wear by the “bacon on anything and everything” mantra.

(5) Ham: This includes so-called “Canadian bacon.” It has a sweet taste that provides a…