March Madness is a magical time. For my money it is the most compelling two days of television all year long. It is the ultimate in sports watching gluttony. If you're lucky enough to live in the Eastern time zone you can literally watch games from noonish until about midnight...and the VAST majority of the games are compelling. Every game is do or die. Plus it offers something that no other major sports tournament offers...the chance for real and meaningful upsets. Not other major sports tournament offers the chance for a team from a minor conference to jump up and crush the dreams of a traditional powerhouse. In a nation that strives for equality, a nation that tells you that if you work hard enough you can accomplish anything, March Madness is the only sporting event that truly captures these ideals.
To make matters even more exciting, March Madness is about the only sporting event where the entire nation looks at gambling as something to make the event even more awesome. Now, personally, I believe gambling makes every sporting event better...but not everyone is as cool as me, and many people believe in the boring idea of moderation. But, how do people get action on the games? Bracket Pools. Boring old bracket pools. In my many years of watching college basketball incessantly and poring over every detail of the season that dedication has never resulted in any success when it came to bracket pools. There are simply too many impossible games. Or, one thing can go wrong and lead to completely different match-ups then you had envisioned, altering everything. Bracket Pools, basically, are a crap shoot. You're better off throwing money on 00 on a roulette wheel and getting it over with quickly.
But, while many people toil away in bracket contests they do so only because they do not see any creative or fun alternatives.
That's where I come in with two new, exciting, creative, and more interesting options.
1. Suicide Pool
2. Fantasy Draft Style Pool
Here are some quick details on each of these options:
Suicide Pool
Each day of the tournament you pick one team that HAS to win. If the team you pick loses, you lose, the clock just struck midnight Cinderella and you're going home alone. You can choose any team you want with one restriction...YOU CAN ONLY USE EACH TEAM ONCE. So, if you use Kansas and Duke in the first round you can never use them again...even if you make it to the finals you can not choose a team because you have used the only two options.
So, basically what you want to do is use some strategy, or strategery, in selecting your early round teams. You don't want to make it to the Final Four and not have any teams left to use...
It's a lot harder than this brief explanation makes it sound. But, if you think it sounds easy than step to the plate and put your money where your mouth is jackass.
The winner will be the last person standing. If there is somehow a tie, the tie-breaker will go to whoever has the highest total when adding up all the seeds they selected. If it is still tied we will go by who used the highest seed, second highest, etc. until the tie is broken...if these all result in ties it will be a split pot.
Fantasy Draft Style
This is similar to a traditional bracket pool, but it offers the players a bit more control. Here's how it works you will pick ONE team from each of the following groups
1 Seed
2 Seed
3-4 Seed
5-6 Seed
7-10 Seed
11-12 Seed
13+ Seed
You're "Fantasy Team" will be comprised of these 7 teams. For every first and second round victory your teams earn 1 point. A Sweet 16 or Elite 8 victory earns you 2 points. A Final Four victory or Title Victory gets you 3 points. The tie-breaker will be determined by adding up the seeds that earned you victories.
These pools are not the crapshoot that the traditional bracket pool is. These are games of skill that reward degenerate sports fans and exclude jackasses that know nothing but get in for the heck of it. If you don't like college basketball I don't want you to play. If you're too stupid to understand how much more exciting these options are, then I don't want you in either, go get in a bracket pool or take a ride in your Hybrid. I assume you drive a Hybrid because you're a douchebag. And, as an FYI 100% of the entry donations will be returned to the donors. My understanding is that brackets are completely legal under that circumstance. We're running this because we love college basketball, we love March Madness, and we love games of skill. If you do too then I expect you to enter. I also expect you to like pizza and movies featuring the Rock since we have so many other things in common.
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