2015 NFL Playoff Suicide Pool!

Hey everyone!

First off, an early happy 2015!  My new year's resolution is the same as last year: to continue to be a conduit to allow others to have irresponsible uses of money that don't involve in-app purchases!

Anyway, let's start the new year off right - with a suicide pool!   Like our world famous (ish) NCAA tourney pool, we're going to be having an NFL Playoff Suicide Pool.  The rules are so simple, I don't even have a word document for this one!

Hey man!  I did this last year.  Just tell me what changed so I can get on with my day.

Fine but you're missing out on comedy gold below.  First change is the entry fee is $20.  The only other major change is HOW to submit your selections.  In the old days, I got picks via email, text, facebook message, calls, through other people, etc.  You name a commuication method, I got picks that way.  This year, I set up a Google Form that'll make things really simple.  All you do is pick your team and fill in your name and email address, and we're good to go.  (I will not sell or display your email address.  I don't even know where to sell email addresses.)  I've used these forms on a smartphone before and they work fine, so no need to find a computer.

As each form is created, I'll post it at tourneypools.blogspot.com and email all participants just for good measure (so supply an email address you actually check!).  For now, here are the forms for this weekend...

Wildcard Saturday

Wildcard Sunday

Ok, on to the rules proper....

The Basics

- Each day, you pick one team.  If you're team wins, congrats!  You live to fight another day.  If not, it's GAME OVER MAN!

- As with any suicide pool, you cannot pick the same team twice.

- Due to how few possible combinations of selections there are, there is no tiebreaker in this game.

- The pool will be "winner take all," but I'm figuring there will be a few people there at the end, so everyone who makes it to the last day and picks the winner (whatever that is) will split the pot.

- Just in case anyone is unaware, there are a possible total of SIX games to be picked - wild card saturday, wild card sunday, divisional playoff saturday, divisional playoff sunday, championship sunday, and finally super bowl sunday.  Plan accordingly!

Entry

- Cost will be $20

- You may buy only a maximum of TWO entries

- easiest way to pay is, as usual, via PayPal.  Please note the PayPal address is steelcard30@gmail.com.  As usual, when paying, choose that you are just "sending money to someone you know" in order to avoid PayPal funds.  I will not chip in additional money b/c you decided to send 8% to PayPal.

- For those of you who still live in 1997 and are scared of computers and think everything that happened in that Sandra Bullock movie The Net is real, I guess you can find me and hand the money over.  If you choose this route, you need to do so before the kickoff of the first game, which is SATURDAY, JANUARY 3RD, 2015. 

Referral Pool

- Once again, if you refer a friend, your entry gets added to a referral bonus pool.  The total referral pool will be 20% of all "referred" entries.

- If you buy a second entry, you have then technically "referred yourself."  In this case, designate which entry is your bonus-eligible entry when sending picks.  If you do not designate, I'm going to assume it's the first team in your email/text/smoke signal.

- And why not, if you refer five people (yourself included), your entry is free.  It's only fair, right?

- The winner of the referral pool will be determined the exact same way as the winner of the main pool.

That's it.  As usual, feel free to forward this along to friends who may want to play.  If you have any questions, just let me know.  I'll use the same website (tourneypools.blogspot.com) for all updates.  Good luck all!

Week 1 and 2 Update

Week 2 is in the books!  Here's the updated scoreboard....

Wins Pool Scoreboard

Save that link b/c it will continuously update throughout the contest.  So, who's feeling good and bad so far?  Let's start with the happy campers...

• Shane Sportsman: Look, when I put that 8-for-8 rule in, I didn't expect anyone to hit it.  And it happened Week Freaking 1.  Go figure.  Shane is set up to take down 10% of the pool already.
• Tom Crone: The big man has one entry tied for the lead and one entry only one back.  Enviable position.  Of course, he can't be happy about one particular team on that one-back entry (more on that in a second).
• Everyone who picked Buffalo: Gotta be happy about that gift 2-0 so far, right?  The AFC East seemed to have the least consensus among all the conferences; those of us who fell into Buffalo are looking pretty smart right now.

And now, the angry bunch...

• Kim Lomot: I'm happy Kim is here b/c she wins the unofficial "most recommendations" award.  However, she's looking up at everyone she referred, having only six wins so far.  Better days ahead, Kim... Better days ahead.
• Jeff Barrett & David Crone: Jacksonville & Oakland huh?  Enjoy your combined 5-27 record from those two.
• Anyone who did not take Philly in the NFC East: How many wins do those other teams combine to get?  14?  Philly might only get 9 wins, but they'll still have the division locked up by Thanksgiving.
• Anyone who took New Orleans: While I was typing this, I just scored two touchdowns on the Saints defense.
• Me: Why?  Because the rules led to there being a ton of duplicate entries.  I like the idea of this contest, but I'm already planning on revamping things a little bit based on what I ended up with.  Regardless, it'll still be fun I think.

 I'll try to continue with regular updates as the season progresses.  See you all next week!

Picks are live!

Spreadsheet for the picks is right here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1e_uulrESuCXgwZQK5jdoFdxYbO8f-N5Da1Ut6bH3Yvk/edit#gid=2055328663

I'll be back on Tuesday morning with a week 1 wrap-up.

Week 1 Pre-Update

Just an FYI, picks have not been posted b/c I'm waiting for people to send corrected entries.  Once all corrections are in, I'll post the entries.  What I will say so far about the pool:

• The only team that no one selected was Carolina
• If you picked that enticing Houston-Denver combination.... You are very much NOT alone
• We have 15 Seattle picks and 10 Green Bay picks

2014 NFL Wins Pool!

I don’t know about you, but I love football.  I also love gambling.  However, I hate gambling on football.  It’s the WORST.  Vegas knows too much and the lines are damn near perfect.  You might as well throw darts to make your picks.  Better yet, you should just throw those darts as yourself – the emergency room bill plus pain med subscription will end up being cheaper than the money you were gonna lose betting bad picks all day.

Now, betting the lines might be a pain in the ass, but prognosticating win totals?  That seems a little more reasonable, yes? 

The Rules

• ·         Participants select eight teams at the start of the season.  Participants earn points based on their teams winning.  Not surprisingly, all wins are not created equal.  Neither are the points here.  Scoring system is below: 
• Regular season win: 1 point
• Wildcard playoff win: 2 points 
• Divisional playoff win: 3 points 
• Conference Championship win: 4 points
• Super Bowl win: 5 points
• Participants cannot select just any eight teams.  First, everyone must select one team from each of the eight divisions.  Easy enough.  Now the (slightly) tricky part.  Based on last year’s regular season results, you may only select one team who won their division in the AFC & one team who won their division in the NFC.  After that, you may only select one team who finished second in their division in the AFC & one team who finished second in their division in the NFC.  And so on.  Get it?  No?  Well let me help you out.  First, here’s the results of the 2013 NFL regular season:

Now, let’s do a quick test to see if you get the rule.  Which of the following sets of teams are valid? Just answer to yourself (or out loud if you’re a weirdo) yes or no to each of these options:

a.       New England and Cincinnati

b.      Philadelphia and New England

c.       Carolina, Dallas, and Miami

d.      Carolina, Dallas, and Chicago

e.      New England, Pittsburgh, and Tennessee

If you answered No, Yes, Yes, No, No, then there is hope for you.  If not, check your work.  FYI, there are 576 valid combinations of entries.  Even if you don’t understand this, you have a decent chance of stumbling onto a valid entry.

•  Results for the week will be posted every Tuesday on this website.

     Entry Fees & Payouts

• Buy-in price is $25 – if that seems high, remember this basically six months of entertainment, so it’s like $4.25 a month.
• Multiple entries are allowed 
•  Pool will be paid out 100%.  The only way the moderators make money is if we are smart enough to beat you fools down.  Which we aren’t.  Seriously, we’ve never won money in any of our pools.  I have no idea why we do this.
• The number of places to be paid out and the allocation of the prize pool in those paid out places will be determined by the moderators once numbers are final and published before the end of the first week of the contest.
• If you refer one or more friends/co-workers/hobos on the corner to the game, you will be entered in a side “referral” pot which is winner take all.  The total in this pot will be equal to 25% of all the “referred” entry fee.
• Hey guys, if I buy two or more entries for myself, it’ll be like I “referred myself”!  Does that get me in the referral pool too?  Ugh, I guess you crazy bastard.  But there’s a catch.  If you have multiple entries, you must designate one entry as your “referral pool entry” for its scoring.  Sorry, you don’t get to overwhelm the referral pool and buy yourself a better shot at it too. 
•  The 8-for-8 Bonus: At the end of the regular season, everyone who has an 8-for-8 week will be entered in a drawing.  If their name is drawn out, they win 10% of the total prize pool (excluding referral pool).  Multiple 8-for-8 weeks will result in multiple entries.  Might be worth keeping this in mind when structuring your picks. 
•  In the event of a tie, the tie will be broken using the following method:

1.       Entry with the fewest losses (likely will be the same, but this will give anyone who has a team get an actual tie a bonus)

2.       Total Regular Season Scoring Differential for each entry

3.       Total Regular Season Turnover Differential for each entry

4.       Cockfight (not really – if none of this nonsense breaks the tie, participants will just have to split)

Deadlines

• Entries must be submitted before kick-off of the first regular season game, which is Thursday, September 4^th, 2014 @ 8:00 PM EDT. 
•  All entries should be emailed to tourneypools@gmail.com 
•  $$$ can be sent in one of two ways
• You hand it to a moderator in cash or check form
• Send it via paypal to my account at steelcard30@gmail.com – this is by far the easiest method for all involved.  If you don’t have a paypal account, sign up for one.  I set up an experiment where I asked a dimwitted chimpanzee to sign up for a paypal account, and it took the chimp 2 minutes and 28 seconds.  I bet you can easily finish under 3 minutes.  Or are you dumber than a dimwitted chimpanzee?  I don’t know, I guess it’s possible. 
•  No IOU’s will be accepted.  This isn’t a charity.  Maybe when UNICEF gets into the NFL win pool business, you can go there and give them your IOU.  Until then, we’re the guys to talk to.

Rainbow Six Jackpot Pool

Around the Crone household about the only thing that causes more conversation and arguing than college basketball is our first great love...horse racing.

In the past we have focused this blog on mostly our NCAA Tournament Pools, which ballooned to 119 entries this year and has certainly become the most popular NCAA Tournament Pool in existence (well...maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration...). However, horse racing is where our passion lies, and this weekend is offering a chance for us to make an even bigger pool than the one we have in March...

This Memorial Day Monday is set to play host to the biggest horse racing jackpot pool ever. Gulfstream Park's Rainbow 6 is expected to have between $15 to $20 MILLION dollars that will be paid out to people who correctly pick six straight winners.

A little background for those not versed in horse racing wagering...

The Rainbow 6 is a jackpot wager that has existed for the last couple of years. It is a 20 cent base wager. So, if you pick one horse in each of the six races the wager only costs 20 cents. However, most people play multiple horses in each race, making it 20 cents per combination. As a simple illustration let's say your ticket looks like this:

   Race 1    Race 2    Race 3    Race 4    Race 5    Race 6
     1,2           1,2         1,2,3         1           1,2,3      1,2,3,4

Here you would have 144 combinations (2x2x3x1x3x4) which would cost $28.80.

What differentiates the Rainbow 6 from most wagers is that THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE WINNER (except on mandatory payout days...I'm getting to that...). Since there can only be one winner the pool has grown to over $6 Million dollars over the past few months. Daily winners have collected thousands, and sometimes tens of thousands, of dollars, but this isn't a normal bet type, this is The Highlander, and there can be only one.

HOWEVER, Monday has been decreed as a mandatory payout day, which, in a nutshell, means all of
the winners will split up one of the biggest prize pools in horse racing history. The total pool is expected to balloon to somewhere between $15 and $20 MILLION dollars to be divvied up between winning bettors.

So, what does all of this mean, and why should you care?

Fair questions savvy reader, fair questions indeed. What you may or may not know about me (David Crone), is that I happen to be somewhat of an expert in the field of wagering on horses. Just ask my Alma mater's magazine if you need PROOF (page 11), or check out this janky link to a Courier Journal article about me and Philip HERE. Further, my brother, father, and some of our cohorts are also among the top handicappers in the country. We've won major handicapping contests, been featured in newspaper articles (one cited above), and have extensive backgrounds related to figuring out which horse will get from point A to point B the fastest. Since this is such a unique opportunity and such a huge pool we are putting together a wagering syndicate to build a big bankroll and take a shot at taking down a huge score.

How this works:

We have about $1,500 to start with as seed money. We will add to that any funds which you, or your friends/family/enemies/frenemies/framily/and or pets would like to throw into the bankroll. You will then be given a percentage share equal to the money that you invest. So, if you put up $30 and we end up with $3,000 you will have a 1% stake. If we win and it pays $40,000, your $30 would turn into $400 (minus taxes, which I would pay, it would not be taxed for you, but it would be taxed on my end, so I will have to hold out the money to cover that).

On Sunday night/Monday morning we will see where our bankroll stands and put together a series of Rainbow Six tickets. We will then let everyone know what tickets we have bet, and what combinations we have covered. You will be able to watch these races through a variety of television/online channels (if you need that info we will provide it).

Hopefully, by Monday evening we will be reaping wonderful rewards and spreading out some cash, love, and positive vibes between all who took part. The total payout will end up being based on the odds of the winning horses throughout the six races. On the low end it will probably pay $5-$10 thousand. But, there exists the possibility of a six figure payout on a day like this.

Let me know what questions you have, what I didn't cover well enough, and if you want to take part! Should be a lot of fun...hope you join in!

Suicide Pool Final Results

I think David resigned from updating the blog due to extreme bitterness toward this tournament.  And with that, I'll congratulate all the winners!

1st - Chris Stinnett
2nd - Ryan Sandlin
3rd - Nick Kahl
4th - Jon Ryan Neace
5th - David Crone

Referral Pool

1st - Jon Ryan Neace
2nd - David Crone
3rd - Steve Fiscus

Payments should be getting sent out soon.  Congrats everyone!  And see ya next year!

David Crone's daily selection is Michigan.

Saturday Update

Basketball is so stupid.

I'm taking Florida.

Changing

I can't do it. I can't jinx Louisville. Plus, my father and brother both yelled at me and called me stupid since I am running out of teams if I take them....

Things change, and that's the way it is.

So, Connecticut it is. If this affects anything for anyone. For the record I only know about 4 of the other picks there are a couple Michigan's, an Iowa State (Ben Kraft, Niang is still hurt), and I heard rumors that someone may pick Tennessee. No one else has been stupid ballsy enough to touch Louisville v UK. And, I think everyone is trying to save the MSU v Virginia winner for the next round. At least, that's what I've gathered through the few picks I have seen, FYI.

Since so few picks are in, and I haven't checked to see if others have gone to Philip, I do not feel I am sacrificing the integrity of the Pool. Plus, I am too stupid to rig anything, and my record of success, errr, lack thereof, should be evidence enough of this fact....

And Then There Were 11....

First off, the leaderboard is still in the same place, but in case you can't check back two posts (like my father, Tom Crone) here is THE LINK.

Also, my pick for tonight will be The Louisville Cardinals. That's right, I am running the very real risk of potentially jinxing my favorite team and alma mater. All in the pursuit of stupid, stupid money. Do you see what you've made me do Suicide Pool!? DO YOU SEE!!?? Take a good hard look at what you've turned me into....I'm hideous!

With that said, wow, what a long, beautiful, strange drive it's been. Am I right? It seems like just yesterday there were 120 of us laughing and dancing. We seemed so young, so beautiful, so innocent. But then, the games began. They rounded us up from each of the 12 districts and forced us into a battle where there could be only one survivor. There we were, born to be kings, we were the princes of the universe. We had no rivals, no man could be our equal. Whoa, sorry, I fell into some sort of Hunger Games/Highlander time loop there.

Anyway, how about them Dayton Flyers? If you have lost in this Suicide Pool, you were likely sent home by the Flyers. SIXTY of you were silly enough to take a stand against these scrappy young bucks from the rust belt. How dare you. And yet, thank you for your contributions. You fought gallantly, and though you may not have made it to the Colosseum to battle lions on the grand stage, your contributions are still appreciated and enjoyed by those of us that still remain.

I knew I couldn't pick against Dayton after reading, THIS, following that link will take you to either the most beautiful, saddest, or creepiest tale you have ever read. Honestly, I have no idea which category it should fall under. But, Dayton clearly has ghosts on their side, willing them to victory. There was a documentary done on this very phenomenon in 1997.

At 11 live entries we've reached a point where we can start to handicap the field that's left. Somewhat surprisingly, no one has two live entries left, so that advantage doesn't exist.Without further ado, the odds:

2/1 Nick Kahl - How can he not be favored? A man that has had success in the Suicide Pool in the past. He also has a big lead in the tie breaker, and has virtually the entire remaining field left to choose from. Plus, he has the advantage of an unborn spawn that is willing him towards success from inside the womb. The psychic powers of unborn children have been well documented.

4/1 Charlie Brutcher & Jon Ryan Neace - Both seem to be in a great position. However, I think they're both UK fans, which means they have extremely questionable taste and likely limited basketball knowledge. Despite their good standing currently, this could come back to bite them.

5/1 Ryan Sandlin - In a similar position to the pair above him, but while they used San Diego State a couple rounds ago, Ryan used Louisville. This leaves him at a slight disadvantage to the others.

8/1 Ben Collins & Ben Kraft - Sure, they're both in a solid position. Both have a real shot at winning. But, I have insider info that suggests neither may be putting in the countless hours of research it's going to take to win this thing. Collins, instead of focusing solely on the suicide pool, seems to be doing things like "working," and "exercising," and "finishing up nursing school." I'm not sure this lack of commitment to what's important will pay off for him. Similarly, Ben Kraft is off gallivanting around California on a vacation instead of sitting in a depressing basement on a computer watching replays of games from three months ago to potentially gain an edge on the field. Lack of commitment makes me question the resolve of these two.

13/1 Chris Stinnett & Steven Fiscus - Ummmmm....well.....I don't really know these guys, which means I can't really make any jokes about them. So, 13/1. Let's move on.

25/1 Zach Payne - He could be higher, really, he could. But, he has Jose Canseco and Marc Summers both sending their minions after him, so, can he really focus on basketball?

50/1 Tom Crone - The patriarch is reeling. Right now he could be sitting pretty with 2 live entries....instead he picked Baylor with one of his entries last night. Baylor. That puts you near the bottom of the list.

2,763,918/1 David Crone - Let's face it. I'm not going to win. Honestly, I'm shocked I've gotten this far. My live entry is my referral entry, and last night I was actually pulling for SDSU so that I would lose, but take second in the Refeerral Pool and walk away with $100. That's right, that's how much I believe in my chances of getting any further. Now, on top of that, I've taken Louisville and I'm probably jinxing the team I love. I've become a sad shell of humanity. Leave me alone. JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!

Welcome to Week 2

Hey everyone still in,

I think Dave has some big post planned, but for now, you're stuck with the substitute.  Just wanted to remind everyone that all picks must be in by 7:15 PM ET.  I will not post picks until everyone has picked.  That way no one will be able to make their picks without trying to game the system and seeing who everyone else has picked.

"Hey dummy, don't you tally all these picks?  AND you're BOTH still in?  So don't you have that advantage?"

Good point.  Guess we better pick early...

David is taking Arizona
Phil is taking Stanford

Good luck everyone!

- Phil

Day 3 Wrap Up

Oh NCAA Tournament, you're quite a fickle mistress...For your first two glorious days you wasted no time in providing fireworks. Right off the bat you slapped us in our stupid faces and yelled, "LOOK AT ME!" And, then, Day 3 happened.

Expecting mayhem, we tuned in early just to see Florida dominating Pitt in an unsurprising result that advanced a few Suicide Pool players. Then we saw a horrible display of "basketball" featuring Louisville and St. Louis. For those of you that missed it, the game looked a little like THIS. This time nine players advanced as Louisville drew off and somehow handed St. Louis their worst loss of the season (that's right, 15 point win, the biggest margin St. Louis lost by all season).

As the evening games started things stayed quiet. Michigan handled their business and easily dispatched Texas (advancing 7 more players). Meanwhile, San Diego State overwhelmed the North Dakota State BiZons, and in the process made THIS GUY cry. Don't worry Saul Phillips, we'll always remember you for knocking out Oklahoma and then doing THIS. And, really, one NCAA Tourney win for North Dakota is like the most exciting thing that's happened there since English was declared the official language of the state in 1987 (seriously, that's not even a joke, it really happened: PROOF). This finally eliminated a few suckers as Sam Buente, Jordan Doepke, Andy Lonnon, and one of your GameMasters, Phil Crone, all got a little too cute and tried to beat Steve Fisher and SDSU. Still the Aztecs advanced 14 of our players.

So, with 4 games down we had eliminated just 4 contestants.....and then.....

BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE!

Syracuse was, far and away, the most popular pick in the pool so far this year. The Dayton Flyers were representing an A10 Conference that has been something like THIS so far in the Tournament. But, Sean Miller's little brother and the team he coaches had their mojo working on Saturday night. They sent the Orangemen back to Syracuse and ended the Suicide Pool for a whopping 31 contestants.  Once again, the A-10 provides us with our Suicide Pool Grim Reaper.  Dayton has single-handedly cleared 41 entries from the pool, much like La Salle last year, who managed to smite 26 of 89 entries in 2013. Oh NCAA Tournament, right when we were starting to question you you go and do this. Like I said, quite a fickle mistress.


Wisconsin and Michigan State both rallied late to notch wins over Oregon and Harvard respectively. These games didn't advance many people, and only one guy, Bryan Maggard, was eliminated in either game. Nice try with Oregon Bryan. Their gameplan of blinding the opposition with bright colors and coming out with the Flying V chanting Ducks Fly Together didn't work this time (I absolutely imagine this is what EVERY Oregon halftime locker room is like).

Our final game of the night saw UConn knocking off Jay Wright, my mom's favorite coach. Surprisingly, only two people had hitched their wagon to Jay Wright's star, so we must bid adieu to Jordan Doepke (two mentions in these recaps is not a good thing Jordan) and Brooke Neace.

Thus completes the Day 3 Wrap Up, hopefully, you got a little information, laughed a little, cried a little, and learned a thing or two. After three days we're down to just 41 entries out of the initial 119. Good luck to those of you still fighting the good fight.

Day 2 Recap

Reminder, Results sheet is continuously updated HERE.

Sometimes, you wake up in the morning seeing the world one day, but by the time you go to bed, your entire worldview has changed. Maybe. Actually, that probably doesn't happen very often, and yesterday certainly wasn't a day like that now that I look back on it. Actually, it was a pretty typical Day 2 of the Tourney.

Let's be real: Yesterday was a tease.

The day started just like Day 1, with a nice little upset. This time it was Duke, their conqueror? Mercer. That's right, Mercer. It had me making great puns like "Mercer me!" (A play on Mercy Me! for all those who may have missed it, trust me, it was really funny, a lot of people laughed...a lot of people...trust me).

Don't know much about Mercer? Well, don't worry, I did some research and found out a lot about them. In fact, here is a little excerpt from their Wikipedia page:

"The Bears men's basketball team is best known for defeating the 3rd seeded Duke Blue Devils in the 2014 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament."

Wow! Did you know that little fact!? Thanks Wikipedia!

 The Mercer win had Suicide Pool entrants scrambling to check the results sheet, and most of them were as disappointed as an Asian kid's dad who saw their son just got  B+ on a math test....only 4 of our brilliant players used Duke.

The game that sent the most players packing? New Mexico losing to Stanford. As a quick aside, the person writing this recap was one of the suckers that fell into the New Mexico trap (for the second year in a row, I might add), maybe I was just caught up in Hugh Greenwood mania? How could you blame me? That hair, those eyes, his solid fundamentals and Australian accent....I also must say this is just another reason for me to hate Stanford. Not only is their lousy coach Johnny Dawkins the reason Nolan Smith ended up at Duke instead of Louisville, but I also hate how their stupid nickname is "The Cardinal" and their mascot is this abomination. Screw you Stanford, screw you.

Pat Brutcher and Jeff Lowich lost entries when VCU did the impossible, and fouled a 3 point shooter up 4 allowing "Stone Cold" Stephen F. Austin to open a can of whoop ass in OT. Also, a special shout out to my father, Tom Crone, for being the only sucker to buy into the Oklahoma State hype....actually, I am shocked that no one else picked them considering how many experts had called them a sleeper that could make a run, are people getting better at this whole Suicide Pool thing?

After that, it was a day of near misses. Weber State had a real shot at Arizona, Kansas struggled with Eastern Kentucky, Providence handed UNC a win (saving 5 of you), and Central Carolina made a serious run at Virginia.

The best pick of the day was clearly Tennessee, an 11 seed that was a 6 point favorite? That's a no brainer people. Our three front runners, Bryan Maggard, Blake Hooper, and Michael Crone all went Pitt-Tennessee on Days 1 and 2.

Overall we are down to 79 players as 40 entrants have been eliminated. Best of luck (to me) Today!

So, First Game Of The Day Picks....

Memo to the players still alive in the pool....you might want to avoid the first game of the day tomorrow. Just an idea.

Day 1 Recap

Fellow Romans, lend me your ears...or, your eyes I guys...because, this is written, and you can't hear writing...well, I guess you can read it to yourself through internal vocalization, I don't know if that's the proper term, it might be wrong. Wait, what was I saying? What was this whole thing even about? Let me get back on track, The Suicide Pool Day 1 Recap starts........NOW.

First off, this thing is All About The Money so let's get this cleared up right off the bat....PAY OFFS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

Main Pool

1st - $1,230
2nd - $500
3rd - $200
4th - $75
5th - $50

Referral Pool

1st - $200
2nd - $100
3rd - $25

Obviously, the first game of the day set off fireworks when THE (pompous) Ohio State University was sent packing and Aaron Craft's 10 year college career came to an end. My favorite tweet from the ending can be found HERE by the way...and, just like that, the player the media slobbered over for years was unceremoniously sent home, and haters everywhere rejoiced. More importantly it knocked out 10 suicide pool entries right off the bat and set into motion a wave of pseudo rebuys as everyone scrambled to get an extra entry.

But, alas, as so often happens, after a crazy start things evened out pretty quickly. The only game that really sent people packin was NC State absolutely blowing it against Saint Louis. I forget the exact numbers, but they had something like a 25 point lead with 18 seconds remaining, promptly missed 43 straight FTs, and Jordair Jett's Majestic Hair was simply too much for NC State to overcome. Keep in mind, NC State was a 12 seed that only THREE out of 121 Bracketologists on BracketMatrix even had making the tournament.....and, despite this, seven of you (including Alvin and the Chipmunks) decided they were the team you wanted to risk your entry on.

The best picks of the day ended up being by Kimberly Lomot (who also finished second in our Conference Pick Em) and Alex Shearer who got big wins from Harvard and Dayton respectively. I was a little surprised Kimberly was the only entry on Harvard as the Crimson were a pretty hot underdog pick.

Finally, a special shout out goes to Sean Kellihan who used his two entries to choose Ohio State and NC State.  Well played Sean, well played.

25 entries down, 94 still standing.  Here's the leaderboard for all who misplaced that link.  Day 2 picks will go live at the tip of the first game.  Good luck all.

Pool is Officially Closed!

With the tip of the ASU/Texas game, the pool is officially closed.  I feel like I'm saving some of you from yourselves at this point.  We have 119 entries this year, which is far beyond what we expected.  Payouts will be posted tomorrow.  Good luck everyone!!!

Well, that was fast...

Just a reminder to the ten goofs that took Ohio St., pool is open until 9:30 and multiple entries are accepted.  So if you wanna rebuy and not screw up again, feel free.

Suicide Pool Leaderboard is Live

Here's the link you've all been waiting for...

2014 Suicide Pool Leaderboard

Also, I added a second tab to the Google Doc which counts how many people picked each team.  You'll see there that the most popular team today is Villanova.

We currently have 97 entries, but the pool is NOT CLOSED YET!  If we get to 100 entries.... Nothing will happen but that'd be pretty cool right?  Anyway...

Thursday Game Schedule

For anyone who needs it.  I highlighted the last set of games.  Once ANY of those games tip, picks are final.  Anyone who did not submit a pick or submitted an invalid pick will be defaulted to late game favorite Louisville...