March Madness

The most important thing about this post is my idea for a new way for everyone to join in the fun of the annual NCAA men's college basketball tournament. But I quickly divert your attention for one moment to this thought.

[BEGIN THOUGHT] Shouldn't they rename the hyped up title of this event? March Madness? C'mon. Madness implies that this tournament is unpredictable, exciting, and just down right crazy - which I think most people would agree that it truly is. But then I hear people, often who are still trying to figure out what sport they are referring to, say that they are looking forward to filling out the "paper thing" for "March Madness." Don't get me wrong, I think it is great that people take an interest in sports and college athletics, but when "madness" is as commonplace as a "pizza party" the name just doesn't work for me any more. [END THOUGHT]

Anyway, here is my great idea. Usually people get together in an office pool or as a collective of friends to wager a small amount of cash with the person who predicts the most games correctly taking the whole pile of money. While this makes for a great time for the person that wins, it isn't as much fun for everyone else. Plus, Teri thinks that this kind of activity may be somewhat close to what some people call "gambling." So, I've thought of a new plan.

March Madness meets Yankee Swap/White Elephant

In my version of March Madness everyone contributes something. It could be movie tickets, a book, a bobblehead, whatever. Then we all fill out the brackets and see how everyone does. The prizes can be distributed one of two ways.

The first option would be to give 1st place the first choice and they get to keep whatever they end up with.

The second option, which is probably more fun, would be to let last place pick whatever they want and then let each better performance take their pick. You can steal anything you want and there are no caps on stealing (otherwise first place wouldn't get a chance to grab the prize they want most).

So who's in? Today (Sunday) the bracket will be announced. You don't get a point for picking the playin game correctly which means that you have until Thursday, March 20 to decide if you are in.