That's right hoops (that's slang for basketball) fans, it's March and it's about time we go mad for it! At the suggestion of one of our loyal readers, I have created a group on ESPN and have forced both Choire and Alex to fill out a bracket, much to their chagrin (and, in Choire's case, total bafflement, followed by blind guessing), and now it's your turn-to fill out a bracket. But wait, we're not just playing for pride and bragging rights here.
Here are the details and instructions.
1) Go to our ESPN group page, join our group, create a bracket, and pick the teams you think will win!
1a) Make sure that you do this before tomorrow at 12:20pm when all of the brackets officially lock!
2) Watch the tournament unfold! Stay tuned for updates about how you sports enthusiasts (!?) are performing within our group!
3) And if you win, you may choose two of your favorite Jock Jams CDs from here (I'd recommend Jock Jams Vol. 2, it's a great blend of 90's R&B and great sports anthems, like 'This Is How We Do It' and Reel 2 Real's 'I Like To Move It') and we will have them purchased and sent to you!
Could this be any easier? No! It could not! So go do it!
Contest void where prohibited by law etc., etc. disclaimer, disclaimer, you know the drill.
Ed Ruscha is so gonna kick Kentucky's ass.
David,
Maybe you need to do a more in-depth questionnaire, to mine more demographic info about your audience?
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For example: I thought the football season was over.
No, silly, this is basketball. College basketball is played year-round.
OK. But I'm only picking state schools, on principle.
There's a state called Duke, right?
@formerly: I think it's a duchy.
Is this Arena League or Outdoor league?
He knows me so well. /sarcsm
A real prize would be having the Jock Jam sent to someone else
This is not not an option.
And...whoomp, there it is.
Sure, why not. I'll join America's lost productivity club.
This is exciting! I hope I beat Katie Bakes!
LITERALLY, AM I RIGHT?
Oh hey now.
I hope that Katie literally Bakes, yes!
Are there photos of the teams available? I always just root for the hottest guys.
That was my tactic! I Image-Googled a LOT.
I PICK SWIM TEAM.
@TNP: It is a pool after all.
tell me is Gonzaga still adorable?
RIGHT? I think a burst of Adam Morrison Nostalgia ruined my bracket.
I was thinking late 90s? Aughts? Adorable twins? someone help me I'm senile.
I've always wondered how Montell Jordan did it! Is this my chance to finally find out?
Please accept my participation in this exercise as an expression of my deep and abiding and embarrassing love for you.
yes, what she (?) said.
Goodness this is work. I thought i was done and then I scrolled to see there were more little boxes...
MOUNTAINEERS!!
I am more excited for this pool than the one with money on the line. That is sad?
I have finally found a blogging platform that is right for me; thanks, Cho!
We can't see each other's brackets once we pick?
Other entries are only viewable after Tournament Challenge locks on Thursday, March 18. Duh.
Lol.
They did that so you can't peek at my picks.
NO PEEKING!
You could drop out, check out everyone's picks, and then rejoin. Or else you could just wait, it's up to you.
@MrH: The funny thing is that, before I joined, I was checking it out to see how it worked, and I just happened to pick yours as the bracket I looked at. Sorry. And don't worry, I already forgot your picks (alhthough, or course, they were brilliant--Kansas out in the first round: WOW!).
NOT COOL, HIPPITY.
@Pete: You mean you're NOT a Duke fan???
Neophytes to such processes should Bear in mind the Cardinal rule: determine each game by Who Would Win A Cage Wrestling Match Between The Two Teams.
Also used: Who Would Earn Win Money at Blackjack, Who Would Be Elected Governor of the Virgin Islands, Who Would Make The Finals of Survivor: Indianapolis, Project Runway, etc.
I was always more partial to Jock Rock. Lotta Queen and Jerry Lee Lewis!
If this was anyone besides Bakes, I would accuse her of Googling for a joke. But she probably owns that on 120 gram vinyl.
Volumes I and II!
My picks would involve a lot of dart throwing at the names of teams, and probably a drinking game.
Fuck basketball, who wants to go drinking and play darts?
Your on! As for picking, science has proven that it's best to go with the higher seed: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/sports/ncaabasketball/15score.html
Last time I combined those two things I was asked by security to stop throwing darts at my friend. I had him totally outlined within a millimeter of his nose with darts! I was asked by security to stop after I lodged a dart in my friends shoulder (thank gawd he kept his suit jacket on). Soooo... how are you at pool?
Now I'm supposed to trust you with a cue stick?!?
I'm in! I am surprisingly good at darts.
Pocket pool or the regular variety?
BUMPER POOL!!!
Actually I am very good at pool - best precisely 1 and 1/2 Jameson/rocks in, with a 1/2 every twenty minutes.
If I fuck up that ratio though it goes quickly downhill.
You bring the eight ball.
I can be randomly awesome at pool and make freakishly impossible shots that bring all the boys to the yard. But, there is no telling when this skill will show up and it definitely deteriorates the more I drink. If that skill does not miraculously show up, it can take a while to clear the table. Bumper pool might be a safe bet!
Maeve, me too! Maybe it's a chick thing. And maybe we'd be better off with air hockey.
I KILL ALL AT AIRHOCKEY! bring it.
I was worried that I'd be getting something done at work for these next few weeks. PHEW.
My only request is that TheAwl's editorial staff sign the copy of Jock Jams. But using the names of the members of Reel 2 Real.
Also! Everyone needs to be aware that they need to have their entries in before Thursday in the AM, or you won't be allowed to play.
Aversion to losing trumped by Jock Jams.
As part of the possibly small subsection of the population who adores the final McQueen collection, cooking a fucking steak, the ousting of Monsserat, and college basketball, I thank you, good sirs and ladies, for The Awl.
Yes to this...except for the basketball part.
Ah! I actually had to *work* this morning and missed this going up. This post, these comments and the perfect weather outside... this is easily the greatest day in months !
I went so far as to sign up, then immediately went crosseyed and retreated to the living room to eat yogurt and watch Buffy.
I will, however, happily join the Awl Fantasy Baseball League.
Drizzt do'Urden is 5-cat stud.
Wow. That's a blast from the past.
Whereas halflings tend to have, at best, 2.5 tools.
As someone who wore a t-shirt that simply said "BITCH" to her then-friend's OMG MARCHMADNESS SQUEE WEAR YOUR TEAM'S COLORS party, I am hereby registering as a conscientous objector to your testosterone-fueled sports orgy.
I don't know what this is about, but I'll make a string bean casserole.
Don't forget the french fried onions! mmm
Done and done. One the upside, this is the only way I would ever have participated in any tournament challenge. On the downside, I am an N.C. State alumnus who chose Duke to win it all, this ensuring I will roast in Hell.
That's wrong on a lot of different levels.
Boy, that was an experience in pure randomness.
Yeah, I made my work study student fill it out, and then played with the profile features for a while, started blogging, and sent some strangers a bunch of wall posts asking for "hot tips because I have a lot of money riding on this thing".
But what I meant was, I'll bring the onion dip.
Is it possible to bring us down? I fear I brought us down.
Ha! No, of course not--WE WOULDN'T LET YOU ON THE TEAM IF YOU COULD BRING US DOWN. THIS IS SPORTS!!!!
We're all winners, just for playing.
Fuck you for not using CBSSports.com!
But I'll join anyway.
You are issuing Credit Default Swaps on Jock Jams? Who are you, Chris Lehmann Brothers?
I'm confused. UNC doesn't play basketball anymore?
Check the brackets for the NIT; they had, for them, a very bad year.
Too soon!
My bad.
Same with my UConn buddies. This Awl brackets thing could only be improved by having the Huskies in the mix. *sniffle*
Neither does UCLA, sadly
Not anything I would call "basketball."
Woo I joined.
I'm going to take you down, Cho
:(
Any way the Gays and Laydees can do this for Fug Madness instead?
(Whatever. I'll join & be laughably embarrassed in the first round, I'm sure. Hate college -- and, really, all -- basketball. And I went to Georgetown!)
Dude, I'm doing both! Rock Chalk Cher bracket!