OK, maybe the title of this post is a bit of an overstatement, but as I look back on those years from about 1991-1996 when I ran an NCAA Tournament Bracket it sure seems as though I was facilitating others’ degenerate gambling habits.
It began innocently enough.
The year before, while working at the Ann Arbor News, my colleague John introduced me to a different concept of a pool that he and some buddies were part of. Rather than picking each individual game of the tournament, participants picked any 10 teams desired. Each victory earned the selector four points. The twist was that each victory also earned a bonus equivalent to the seed number. Therefore, if a No. 1-seeded team won a game it was worth 5 points (4 points for the win + 1 point for the seed). If a top-seed advanced to the Final Four it would be worth 20 points (4 wins x 5 points). A National Championship was worth 30 points.
Because of this unique scoring system, a premium was placed correctly identifying that middle-to-higher seeded team that makes a run to the Sweet 16. The 12-seed that invariably sneaks into the Sweet 16 is worth 32 points for those two wins ([4 points + 12] points x 2 wins) which makes picking that year’s version of Cinderella even more valuable than getting the eventual champion correct.
Of course the optimal scenario was crafting that perfect blend of tournament favorites who live up to their billing and make a deep run along with a handful of schools who shock the world and slip their collective feet into that year’s glass slipper.
After participating – and flailing, badly! – in John’s pool that first year I co-opted the concept and gave him credit, calling the scoring in this modified bracket the “Modified Baconian Scoring System” ala the Stableford Scoring System used by a a couple of PGA Tour events at that time.
It was popular amongst my family and friends. If I recall that first year featured 25 or 30 folks who played, but it grew in popularity – considerably! – in subsequent years because previous participants told others. Couple that with the fact the price was a relatively affordable $5 so even my most destitute pals could afford it and many even submitted multiple entries.
By the time it had reached its zenith I probably had 110-125 partcipants which means I also had $500 to $600 cash in my dresser’s sock drawer.
Oh yeah, these was also the days before computer spreadsheets and formulas that made calculation a snap. This meant next to my socks were a hundred or so sheets of paper with peoples’ names and selctions written on them and some master sheets that I’d created with points values for all the teams that won a game and then tabulations for the participants. Email was also not prevalent at this time so it was a fair amount of conversations and word of mouth as to who was winning following each weekend and who the eventual money finishers were. (It paid first, second, and third places.)
Good luck on your bracket(s)! Let the madness begin.