Tournament Challenge

I don't necessarily want to give this note away, but if I am giving it away, I want to have fun with it. There's $50 Trillion at stake.

Here's the ground rules (mixed in with a few comments):

1) To enter, you must know me or my wife and where we live. And we must know you. You must also be at least 18. ONE entry per household.

2) People have asked me the actual cash value of this prize. I don't really know, BUT if I wanted to secure another bill like this, it would cost me about $40 including postage.

3) There is only one prize. I only have one. There will not be multiple winners. A series of tie breakers will be implemented, if necessary, to determine the only winner from all correct entries.

So what's the contest you ask?

1) You will be required to pick all the winning games within the framework of the remaining eight teams in the tournament. IF Kentucky is as good as everybody says, this may be easier than it sounds. We won't know all of those remaining eight teams, "The Elite Eight" until late Friday night.

2) Something different this year: Because of the short time frame, you will have to e-mail your predictions to me. And I'll need to receive them by THIS coming Saturday morning at 9 a.m. NO EXCEPTIONS. If our e-mails or internet connections aren't working for some reason, the contest may end up being cancelled. No one anticipates this.  I just don't want anybody to be disappointed if weird stuff happens.  e-mail address: baminks@yahoo.com

3) You'll have to follow the tournament enough yourself to know the brackets and team match-ups because the games start Saturday. I won't be able to post them in time.

4) Entries should look like this:
Round 1 winners Team d, Team s, Team x, Team a (four total)
Round 2 winners Team s, Team x (two total)
Finals winner Team x (one total)

AS A TIE BREAKER, ALSO INCLUDE THE FINALS SCORE PREDICTION. The winner among all correct entries will determined by the closest point prediction for the winning team. IF multiple correct entries are tied after that, the person's prediction closest to the losing point total will then be used as the second tie breaker. A coin toss will determine the final winner if everything is still tied.

5) IF there is a winner, you'll be required to pick up the prize from my house the Tuesday morning immediately following the Finals game from 9:00 a.m. until 10 a.m. I want to see you to congratulate you in person, BUT I don't want to be stuck in the house all day waiting for you to show up either.

Summary: Pick the last 7 games accurately, add the final score as a tie breaker, pick up the prize at my house the next day within the hour time frame. ALL of these things must be done to win $50 Trillion dollars. If there is no winner, I hope to try something like this again next year. If there is a winner, I'm not sure what I'll do next year. You think I'm made of money?