How to play
  1. First step is to fill out your picks.  Click on the "Enter Picks" button at the left and go to the Picks Sheet.  By default, all of the boxes are pre-filled with the FAVORITES in a given match-up, so pay attention to your picks.  You need to make your picks BEFORE NOON on the Thursday AFTER selection Sunday.  No exceptions - the "Enter Picks" button will be deactivated at that time!
  2. At the bottom of the Picks screen BE SURE to enter your REAL NAME which is ONLY used for administrative purposes to match your money with your picks.  This name will only be known to you and the administrators of this pool and will be discarded at the end of the tournament.  NOTE!  Each PICKS name must be unique - if you are playing more than one sheet, change the PICKS name for each pick, but keep the REAL name the same so we can match your picks with your money.
  3. Be sure to enter your PICKS name.  Your PICKS name is the name you would like to see in the Standings report which is published here on the site.  This is the name that could win you a small prize for creativity.
  4. And finally at the bottom of the picks screen, BE SURE to enter your email address -- this address will be used to send you a copy of your picks and like your real name, will not be sold or sent to anyone unrelated to the pool unless they show us serious cash or represent a government agency with a valid search warrant.  If you do not have an email account, then find someone who does -- and get the confirmation email from them to see your validated picks.  If you don't know anyone with an email account, move to a new cave.
  5. CHECK YOUR PICKS BEFORE YOU CLICK THE SUBMIT BUTTON!  If you determine that you made a mistake after submitting your picks, do the following:  Submit a new set of corrected picks.  As your PICKS name, use the same name you used on the bad sheet but add the phrase "CORRECTION" to the end of the name.  This is the only way we can determine that you wish to withdraw the original sheet in favor of the new sheet.   If you don't follow this procedure, we can only assume that 2 or more of your picks with similar names means you want to submit several sheets.
  6. The most important step:  You need to find a way to get $10 for each sheet to one of the following people:  Mikie D, Moon Man or The Godfather on or before Thursday before the games start.  If you don't expect to see any of these three idiots before then, you need to send us an email so that we can give you directions on where to mail your check.

The envelope must be postmarked on or before Thursday before the games start or else you may not eligible for cash prizes - and we get final say in this matter.  Unfortunately in the past, a couple of unknowns have hit the pool and then decided after the first round not to send any money.  We can't allow that.

For your convenience, a bag man may be appearing at a location near you during the days prior to the deadline to take your $10 (cash or check):

Monday, Wednesday - The Godfather at Varian Lexington
Tuesday, Thursday - The Godfather Cogenex Lowell
All Week - Mikie & Moon Man at the Usual Location
All other locations should pursue the check-by-mail option.

Initiate your contact with the bag man by using the code phrase "The '89 National Champion Wolverines was certainly the best college hoop team ever".

SPECIAL NOTE TO OUT-OF-TOWNERS:  If you are in a remote location, we encourage you to spread the word among your friends and play in large amounts.  As a consideration to the money minders of this pool, please try to consolidate your payments into a single check accompanied by a list of REAL NAMES that the check should be used to cover.  We encourage participation by anyone with a net worth exceeding $10.

Then What?
Starting on SATURDAY after the games start you can return to this site and click the "Standings" button.  You'll get a listing of all the participants ranked by their position in the pool.  You'll be able to click on any participant to see their picks, and you'll be able to send them email to make fun of them.

Scoring
How are the rankings calculated?  Same as last year with point values of 2, 4, 6, 10, 15, 25 for each round (max points per round: 64, 64, 48, 40, 30, 25).
If you have a beef, or if you submitted a sheet in error, or would like to congratulate us for being fine upstanding citizens, click on the "Send Email" button and write to us.  If you want to withdraw one of your sheets, you MUST send an email BEFORE NOON on March 14th 2002 or we will consider you in the pool.
Payouts will be described on this page as soon as the cash is counted.  Payouts will be made during the week after the conclusion of the tournament.

Authentication & Integrity
All picks submitted to the pool are stored on a server as data but are also sent to a public email site called Hotmail (as well as a copy to the contestant's email).  We keep the emails in Hotmail until after the tournament is over, and upon request we can show you the original email with a Hotmail-generated date/time stamp that verifies a given set of picks is authentic and has not been altered after the tournament has started.
Questions to us by email only please!   This is a very low budget operation.