Bracketologoy

If you know what to do, click here for the link to our group's brackets..  The password is theburrow. I'm using ESPN's format because that's the one Big Cuter uses for our family pool and I understand it. Feel free to make a suggestion for next year if you like another one more.

If you're a newbie to the whole situation, the rest of this post is for you; if you have no interest in the topic, we'll see you tomorrow for a picture post.

So, you want to participate in the pool but you don't know where to begin.  The Burrow is here to help you.  I'll try to keep it Goldilocks information (not too much, not too little, just the right amount).  If you like visual references, click here.


64 men's basketball teams teams are divided into four regions for a single elimination ("win or go home") tournament. The process, which now seems to have grown to include the conference championship tournaments (The Big 10, the Pac-12), is called March Madness.

These regions may have geographic nomenclature but do not be fooled into thinking that the names have any relationship to reality.   LIU Brooklyn will be playing in the West Regionals.  Trust me, Brooklyn is not the west. 

The games are played out over several weeks, and The Burrow will, from time to time, update you on items of note.  Right now, though, your job is to pick the winners.  There are many many sites which can help you make a reasoned choice.  The sports pages of today's newspapers will have background information on how the teams are expected to perform.  Feel free to indulge in any background reading which might enhance your decision making process.

Or don't.  Choose all the teams that wear red.  Decide to pick the higher ranking team in each match-up.  Choose all the state schools, or all the animal mascots, or let sentiment guide your picks and take your alma mater all the way out to the very end.  There will be no judgments.  No one will disrespect your choices.  Partisan rivalries will be enjoyed within a civil framework; I will monitor the discussion board to ensure that we are nice to one another.

You make your choices by clicking on the team you think will win.  ESPN will fill in the next round of the bracket automatically, and then you make another choice.  At the end, you'll choose the ultimate winner, and, in case of a tie, you will enter your best guess for the final score. 

The winner of our pool will receive an official certificate of wonderfulness, a Stroll and Roll T-shirt for you and a friend, and a Christina-Taylor Green Memorial Foundation butterfly.... in addition to bragging rights here and elsewhere for the rest of the year.

Invite your friends and family to participate, if you'd like.  "The more the merrier" is my motto.  This is a private group, so you need the password as well as the Group Name.  You might have to create an ESPN.com account to play.  They ask only for a name (make one up if you'd like) and an email address.  I've had this account since the 1990's and have never received one piece of spam.  I vouch for their reliability and sensitivity to clogging your inbox with nonsense. 

Here is the link: http://games.espn.go.com/tournament-challenge-bracket/en/group?groupID=48262

Here is the Group Name : Denizens of The Burrow

Here is the password: theburrow
Have fun