Utterly Boring dot com

Join The UtterlyBoring.com NCAA Tournament Pick 'em (2009 Edition)

Selection Sunday is coming up on March 15 and then it's time for offices all over the country to create office pools for the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship (and for workplace productivity to grind to a halt). And it's time for the readers of this site to compete for bragging rights (and a few meager prizes) in the annual UtterlyBoring.com Tournament Pick 'Em. Last years contest info was here with final scoring here.

Sign Up Info: While the field for the tournament hasn't been set yet, you can still get signed up in the group and be notified when the field has been set and you can start making your picks (usually about an hour or so after the picks have been announced). Sign up here or if that link doesn't work, go here, click on the "Join Group" link and use the following info:

Group ID#: 7610
Password: utterlyboring

The group's page is here, which I think you can only see if you sign up. Daily results/graphs will be posted here

Prizes: First off, here are the prizes we have so far (and if any local business or individual wants to throw a prize into the pot -- for first or last or anywhere in between -- contact me and you'll receive a 125x125 pixel ad and a link here, if you'd like):

  • First Place: Meals for two (breakfast, lunch, or dinner, as it's all served all day) from Jake's Diner here in Bend (though, considering the portion sizes at Jake's, you could easily say this was "Meal for Four") Plus a hand-made "Bend, Oregon" coffee mug from Mug Revolution here in Bend plus a logoed golf bag towel (with clip) from a defunct Sunriver real-estate company, provided Discover Sunriver Plus (added on 3/11) a used but still functional AIPTEK DZO-V58 Digital Video/Still Camera. It basically writes video to the SD card inside the system (1GB card included). Includes manual, av in/out cables, charger, cd (can you tell I'm cleaning out my closet o' stuff?)
  • Second Place: An adjustable baseball cap from the best dang pizza-place in Baker City, Paizano's Pizza plus another golf towel. plus (added on 3/17) a $25 Carino's Italian Gift Card, thanks to BOR.
  • Last Place (Yes, you read that right, see below for rules): You get a t-shirt from the UtterlyBoring.com shop that you can show off to all your friends your inability to pick winners. Wear it with pride (like last year's loser).
  • Added 3/11 -- Local's Only Prize: A reader says they have good toolbox that they'll throw to the best local (Central Oregon) bracket. It'll be far too expensive to ship (it's 30 pounds). As soon as I know more about it, I'll post it.

Rules:

  • Only one bracket per-person this year. While there are 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 ways a bracket could be broken down, since we have a dead-last prize this year, it wouldn't be fair to allow more than a bracket-per-person.
  • The entire bracket must be filled out if you want to be eligible for the last-place prize.
  • Prizes: Unless otherwise stated, prizes must be picked up from prize providers in person, and prize providers are not eligible to win the prizes they provide (and I'm taking myself out of the running for any and all of the prizes, if I win/lose). Prizes may be added anytime during the tournament, so be sure to sign up.
  • Scoring: I agree with Scott: Yahoo! puts far too much points into the final rounds. So we're customizing the default scoring a bit, using some of the numbers from the Fibonacci Sequence (because we're geeks here, after all). So here's how the scoring for correct picks goes:
    • Round 1: 1 pt
    • Round 2: 2 pts
    • Round 3: 3 pts
    • Round 4: 5 pts
    • Round 5: 8 pts
    • Championship: 13 pts
    That should make for a tighter race this year.
  • Added on 3/9: If there is a tie for any of the prizes, we'll follow this tie-breaker formula (and this doesn't break it, it goes to a coin-toss or some other equally random decision-maker):
    • Tie-breaker #1 - Number of points scored in Round 6
    • Tie-breaker #2 - Number of points scored in Round 5
    • Tie-breaker #3 - Number of points scored in Round 4
    • Tie-breaker #4 - Number of points scored in Round 3
    • Tie-breaker #5 - Number of points scored in Round 2
    • Tie-breaker #6 - Number of points scored in Round 1
  • At the end of the tournament, the winner will have two weeks to claim his prize before it moves down the list to the next-place person (as I don't need more stuff collecting at my house). He or she can do so by e-mailing utterlyboring [at] gmail [dot] com from their Yahoo! account (as all Yahoo! accounts have an email address with username@yahoo.com) or from their public Yahoo! profile address. I can not and will not be held responsible if the e-mail never gets to me because of spam filters, internet problems, or other acts beyond my control. If I don't get the email, you don't get the prize(s) -- Period. You reserve NO right to come back and gripe at me later and threaten legal action. I will also contact the winner via email if they have their e-mail address on the tournament page on Yahoo!'s site (either in their profile or posted in the tournament message board). If winner is unable to be reached 14-days after last day or tournament, the prizes will be awarded to next-highest scorer, repeating the process until somebody can be contacted. We will provide shipping of items, unless otherwise stated above, if you live in the United States -- international winners will have to foot the bill themselves.
  • These rules are subject to change at any time. Jake Ortman has the final say on rules and prizes. UtterlyBoring.com, Jake Ortman, any prize-providers, or participants cannot and will not be held liable for anything in this contest, nor can Yahoo Sports, prize providers, my family, hamster or anybody else. Do not taunt happy fun ball. Batteries not included. Not for off-road use. You agree to these terms when you sign up! That being said, this is casual fun, so let's keep it that way.
That's all for now, so get yourself signed up and good luck!

Posted by Jake on 03/03/09 @ 11:36 PM
Posted in Cool, Site Info | Permalink



13 Trackbacks

March (And April, May and June) Madness Is Coming from UtterlyBoring.com on 03/10/09 @ 11:23 PM:
What if the NCAA tournament was expanded to 4,096 teams? Might make the pick 'em interesting (and really long). I love how they did this video to look just like... (Read More)

Blech from UtterlyBoring.com on 03/11/09 @ 10:29 PM:
I've finally fallen victim to the cold that's gotten everybody else up to this point except me. My kids have all had it, my office all has it, and I... (Read More)

The NCAA Bracket's Have Been Set from UtterlyBoring.com on 03/15/09 @ 04:03 PM:
You have between now and Thursday morning to fill out your brackets for the pick 'em. Get to it!... (Read More)

Last Chance To Sign Up For The Pick 'em from UtterlyBoring.com on 03/18/09 @ 03:49 PM:
We've got all sorts of fun prizes up for grabs in the NCAA pick 'em, but you need to sign up and get your bracket setup tonight as the games... (Read More)

Pick 'em Day 1 Wrap Up from UtterlyBoring.com on 03/19/09 @ 11:30 PM:
Day one of the pick 'em is over, and after 16 games played, we actually had somebody that picked all 16 of them correctly (even the 12-5 upset). So congrats... (Read More)

Round 1 Is Over from UtterlyBoring.com on 03/20/09 @ 11:52 PM:
Round one of the pick 'em is over with a bunch of great upsets (which totally screwed my bracket, as I'm minus one Final Four team). We have a new... (Read More)

The Guy That Eats A Lot Is Still Winning The Pick 'em from UtterlyBoring.com on 03/26/09 @ 09:36 PM:
But not by much. He was tied for the lead after last weekend in the pick 'em, but several folks are still within striking distance. Playing with the pick 'em... (Read More)

Round 3 Is Over, And My Boss Might Win The Thing from UtterlyBoring.com on 03/27/09 @ 11:22 PM:
So the round three of the pick 'em is over, and the leadership has changed since yesterday: Tasmanian_devils has regained a part of the lead along with Club Ed (who,... (Read More)

The Final Four Is Set from UtterlyBoring.com on 03/29/09 @ 05:23 PM:
While I picked two of the Final Four teams in the pick 'em, I'm still basically at end of the pack since I couldn't seem to pick any of the... (Read More)

The UtterlyBoring.com Tournament Pick 'em Has A Winner! from UtterlyBoring.com on 04/04/09 @ 10:58 PM:
Note: I had written up a longer post than this, but my computer decided to BSOD on me while writing it. And I was an idiot and didn't save. Will... (Read More)

Two-Time UtterlyBoring.com Pick 'em Loser At The Pool from UtterlyBoring.com on 08/19/09 @ 05:03 PM:
So in the 2008 NCAA pick 'em, The Dren lost and proudly displayed his loser shirt at Wrigley Field. He again lost this year's pick 'em, but forgot to bring... (Read More)

Looking For Prize Donations for The Annual Pick 'em from UtterlyBoring.com on 01/27/10 @ 09:59 PM:
The NCAA March Madness pick 'em has been a tradition around these parts for quite a while, and this year will be the fifth year we do it. You can... (Read More)

Join The UtterlyBoring.com NCAA Tournament Pick 'em (Fifth Annual, 2010 Edition) from UtterlyBoring.com on 02/27/10 @ 12:57 PM:
Selection Sunday is coming up on March 14 and then it's time for offices all over the country to create office pools for the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship (and for... (Read More)

What are you doing down here? Don't you have something better to do? Like Go Back To The Top of the page, or even see who created this site? This site is © 2001 - 2024 by the Utterly Boring folks at UtterlyBoring.com. Steal my content, as I probably did, too, just link to my site or the original site. Batteries not included. One size fits all. Not for off-road use. Not for internal use. Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.