Reefer err I mean Bracket Madness

I heard some of you are really STRUG-GEL-LING with your brackets. You getting beat by you roommates girl friend, who pick her winners based on criteria such as what teams uniforms would most likely appear on What Not to Where. You even overheard her say, “there’s no way Clinton would wear those awful black Purdue uniforms. He’d go with the classic UCONN look.” Or are you losing to the guy in the cubicle next to you, who has watched two college basketball games all year. The only player in the tournament he has actually heard of is Tyler Hansbrough. He picks all caulk and some crazy upset that of course happens. I can almost guarantee knowledge college basketball fans are losing to an individual such as this. Of course maybe you’re sitting in seventh place out of 32 people like me, but everyone above you has the same freaking teams left. Well, as other things I have fixed in sports (see MooN’s NCAA Football Playoff System or the MFPS for short) I have a system that will eliminate your programs. Once again I will be returning the bullet format for the sake of clarity.

· Disclaimer #1: This system only works for knowledgeable fans and only on a small scale. There’s no way this system works in your office pool in which over 100 participate. It’s too complicated and would be time consuming. You also need a group of individuals that understand how seeding and upsets work. Your cousin’s seven year old son can’t participate here. It wouldn’t work.

· Disclaimer #2: This system is for those expecting more out of their pool. It seeks to eliminate the five minute fill, the crazy upset guy, similar brackets, and going with the caulk. This is for the fan looking to take things to the next level (see Nate’s fantasy football system).

· Disclaimer #3: This system seeks to reward those, who actually make tough picks. I feel that it is unfair to reward someone for picking a #1 seed over a #16 the exact same way as someone, who picks the right #12/$5 upset. It doesn’t make sense. Seeing brackets are essentially a form of gambling they should be based on odds, right?

· Without further ado: The MooN NCAA Tourney Bracket System (copyright 2009)

· The system increasing the amount of points given per round as the teams advanced in the tourney like most systems

· 1^stx1, 2^ndx2, Sweet 16x3, Elite 8x4, Final 4x5, Championship x6

· Points are also given according to seed

· 1-2 start value= 1 point,3-4= 2 points, 5-7= 3 points, 8-10= 4 points, 11-14= 5 points, 15-16= 6 points

· Bonus 5 pts for each Elite 8 team, 10 pts per Final 4 team, 15 per Championship game team, 20 for winner

· Bonus 10 points available in each round for most games picked correctly

What do you think? I am completely open for suggestions on perfecting my system. I believe this system would greatly reduce the likely hood of losing to that guy, who asked you at the water cooler what a Zag was. It also rewards picking upsets correctly instead of going caulk, while not giving so many points that picking higher seeds is not reward. This would make strategy more important for example in a small pool it makes no sense to pick upsets when going with the 1 and 2 seeds will win 90% of the time. This system will also eliminate the likely hood of losing a bracket because of one pick made in the first or second round. I believe that people should be rewarded for picking one 5 seed in the final four correctly more than picking two 1 seeds. What’s harder to do? I bet your brother-in-law’s first wife wouldn’t know, but if you’re reading this you probably do.