Monday, March 15, 2010

Mystery Competition Revealed: SoSG March Madness is Back!

Welcome to Season II of SoSG March Madness! This is what you signed up for. Yes, one full year has passed since Neeebs was crowned champion in the 2009 tourney, beating a game but overmatched (and absent) cigarcow. Who, if anyone, will knock off Neeebs and be crowned 2010 champ?

Here's this year's bracket:

(click image to enlarge)

Note: there is one spot still open! Comment here if you want it! BWrightson has claimed the last spot, so registration is full.

The rules of the tourney will be essentially identical to last year's, but let's review:

The committee has divided the participants into 4 regionals, and the first four readers to sign up - rbnlaw, Fred's Brim, Josh S, and QuadSevens - are awarded the #1 seeds in each. The rest of the bracket is filled out based on the sequence of subsequent sign-ups*.

Much like the actual NCAA tourney, each round of SoSG March Madness consists of head-to-head matchups which themselves consist of two halves. And each matchup is essentially a competition to see which competitor can comment the fastest. Here's how it'll work:

  • For each round's games, at an unspecified time, we will post something with a headline similar to: "Opening Round, 1st Half: Comment-time!"
  • The round and half indicated in the headline will of course vary, but the trigger word "Comment-time!" is your indication that you must, at all costs, post a comment immediately** upon seeing the post.
  • For each game's '1st half', we will take the time difference, in hours and minutes, between the time each of the two competitors in each head-to-head matchup commented. Although all competitors will be commenting in the same thread, each competitor will only be competing against their specific matchup adversary.
  • At some subsequent time, also unspecified, there will appear a "Comment-time!" post for the 2nd half of that round (i.e., "Opening Round, 2nd Half: Comment-time!").
  • The competitor who commented second in the 1st half will then have to beat his opponent by more than that amount in the 2nd half. If he fails to do so, he is eliminated and his opponent moves on. If he succeeds, his opponent is eliminated and he moves on.
  • Therefore, even if you see your opponent has already beaten you to the punch, you still must comment immediately upon seeing the Comment-time post.
  • So, for example, let's say at 1:23pm on Wednesday, we post the Opening Round 1st Half Comment-time post. Let's also say QuadSevens comments at 2:23pm, and Fite Club doesn't get around to commenting until 4:32pm. So Quad wins the 1st half of that game by 2 hrs, 9 mins.
  • Then, if we post the Opening Round 2nd Half Comment-time post at 8:45am the next day, Fite Club would have to beat Quad to the commenting by 2 hrs 10 mins or more, or he'd be eliminated and Quad would move on to the next round.

Those are the basics. A few more notes:

  • It's possible halves or even rounds will overlap if some competitors really lag in commenting. However, I reserve the right to end a (half-)round at any time (I will allow plenty of time for commenting). Nonetheless, until I do, the previous comment-time posts still remain 'live' and can still be commented on.
  • If neither competitor ever comments in either half of a game, they both lose.
  • All 'Comment-time' posts will be posted between 8:00am PT and 10:00pm PT. So you can sleep easy.
  • The clock does not move during the overnight 'dead time' between 10:00pm to 8:00am. Thus, if one competitor posts at 9:30pm one night and his opponent comments at 8:15am the next morning, it is considered only 45 minutes between comments.
  • Any comments posted during the dead time count and are considered to have been posted at 8:00am the next morning.
  • While we obviously won't reveal the exact date/time that the Comment-Time posts will appear, here are some general guidelines:
    • Opening Round: Between March 17 and 19 (inclusive)
    • Sweet 16 Round: Between March 22 and 24
    • Elite Eight Round: Between March 24 and 26
    • Final Four Round: Between March 29 and March 31
    • Finals Round: Between March 31 and April 2
  • Thus, the first 'Comment-time' post will occur no earlier than 8am this Wednesday morning (if nobody additional signs up to play, rbnlaw and Fred's Brim will have automatic bye's into the Sweet Sixteen Round).
  • The content of your comment doesn't matter, just the time you commented (feel free to comment multiple times - only the timestamp on your first comment will matter).
  • Those not participating in a given round are still welcome to comment.
  • To the two Gregs: again, if one of you could temporarily change your username to something other than Greg, it'd be much appreciated (as to Greg 2's expressed concern: this does not impact any links/routing to any other blogs you may have).

So that's it. Please let us know if you have any questions. Otherwise, rest up over the next 48 hours before the games begin as early as maybe Wednesday but possibly as late as Friday!

*I almost rigged it so the two Gregs would have to face off in the 1st round.
**Twitter will be de-activated during the contest to ensure nobody has an unfair advantage

25 comments:

Greg Hao said...

As the first Greg to comment, I say the other Greg should temporarily change his name

Also I'm also not quite sure how to do that since this joint is linked to my google account :D

Unknown said...

I think starting the first round on St. Patrick's Day is clearly discriminatory against the Irish. I recommend the institution of a Mandatory Drinking Policy for round 1. That will even the odds a bit.

Gagne's lucky glasses said...

I'm going to be traveling the week of March 29th through the second so I will be MIA during then...I will play up until then though.

BWrightson said...

If there's still one more spot, I'm in!!

Fred's Brim said...

DB is a sleeper 4-seed!

Eric Karros said...

BWrightson is in! The graphic will be updated when I get home tonight

Fred's Brim said...

@GLG: me too

stupid me scheduled an out-of country trip from the great 8 to the final four weekends. knowing my luck, my team will make a run and I will miss it all

Greg Hao said...

And of course, all the people who won't be here late rounds are all not in my bracket :P

Jason said...

I'm seeded in the perfect bracket. I'm heading to Japan in a few weeks with my girlfriend who speaks Japanese so I've been annoying her by practicing all the Japanese I know: "domo arigato Mr. Roboto." This gives me another reason to (over)use that phrase around her.

Hmm... I may be flying home alone.

Greg Hao said...

btw, you know, there is the internets out there in the wider world. Just hop into your hotel's business center and sit there for 10 hours waiting for the page to refresh. Your family won't mind!

Josh S. said...

Why did Mr. X get the worst picture? Everyone else got action shots from the commercial and he gets a pic of what looks like the toy thrown on the floor?

There should be a play-in between the Gregs to determine who gets to keep the name.

Josh S. said...

Nevermind. That's the snow angel bit. I just couldn't tell.

Kyle Baker said...

MLASF on there 2X?

Eric Karros said...

Ah thanks Dusty, I think the 2nd MLASF is supposed to be Mr C.

Sorry, will fix as soon as I am able...

Paul said...

Man I draw Dusty in the first round when I will be in Arizona drinking Jameson and Guinness??? I will try and pull off the upset.

QuadSevens said...

SoSG March Madness really shows how much this site has grown. Only 19 participants last year and 32 this year. This bracket should be a fun one to fill out. Can't wait to see all the upsets!

Wicks said...

How on Earth did I miss this!!!??? Oh well, I think I got smoked last year.

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

This is going to be tough. My schedule is packed for the next few days.

Josh S. said...

"- It's possible halves or even rounds will overlap if some competitors really lag in commenting. If so, the previous comment-time posts still remain 'live' and can still be commented on.
- If neither competitor ever comments in either half of a game, they both lose."

Don't these two points counteract each other? If the threads are left open for lagging commenters, what's the cutoff for them not commenting?

Jason said...

@Josh S - it looks like the cut-off for a round would have be the 8am of the first day of the following round. Alternately, it could be at the time the post goes up for the 1st half of the following round. This keeps the bracket in balance so everyone knows who they are matched up against (or if they receive a bye due to double forfeit). So the reality is there can only be overlap between the 1st and 2nd half of a single round.

Eric Karros said...

Josh, Jason - that rule never really came into play last year, maybe I'll get rid of it. If neither person ever comments I'll make some judgment call as to when to cut it off, probably like what Jason said.

rbnlaw said...

My employer is again firewalling the comments, so I may be at a huge disadvantage. I may be the first #1 seed to go down to a #16.

Shudder.

Neeebs (The Original) said...

Not a good time of the year for me. Tell the oddsmakers to give me higher odds, or don't bet on a repeat this year.

Eric Karros said...

I see nobody wants to give their opponent poster-board material. Clever strategy, fellas.

Steve Sax said...

I assume I'm a one seed in the Teddy Bear regional.