The Young Family NCAA Bracket Challenge 2009

Welcome everyone to the Young Family NCAA Bracket Challenge 2009!

Obviously, this is the blog that will keep you all updated with the latest, greatest and worst moments of the 2009 NCAA Tournament as predicated through the Young Family's selections.

Oh, but don't you worry. I will try to add a little bit of humor to the blog as to not make it too awfully serious or professional -- you know, seeings as this could be useful for my career.

So, first off, I must acknowledge that this is technically the 2nd Young Family NCAA Bracket Challenge. Heather, Beth and I competed against each other at the last minute last year. Heather (see picture) won, I came in second place and Beth came in dead last. Let me explain.

Heather won because she had all four #1 seeds entering the Final Four. An occurrence that has absolutely NEVER happened in the history of the tournament. So, should I call it genius or just dumb luck/safety predictions? I prefer the latter, however, I must proclaim my sister's genius as I will allow my "hater-ade" and bitterness to subside in the sake of being a better person.

However, Heather, I have a message for you. You will NOT win again. I'm not saying that I will beat you, but this year we have a mass of competitors that will challenge your bracket-prediction skills. You know, in retrospect, Heather, I must say that I do not believe that last year should count. It was not the Young Family NCAA Bracket Challenge, instead it was the Heather, Beth and Brad Bracket Challenge. So, Congratulations, Heather. You're the sole winner of that trophy.

OK, I will again push my bitterness and jealousy aside and present to you an alternative. Heather's name to be placed on the Young Family NCAA Bracket Challenge Trophy (I had to specify, seeings as I hold claim to the first and only Young Family Cup -- Google 'Dominance in every sense of the word' and I'm sure you'll see the Sportscenter recap of the event) but only to have an asteric (*) next to it :-p.

OK, OK, I'll stop... for now. Heather, you can have your celebration that you kicked my butt last year.

So for this year we have 13 competitors! In alphabetical order as to not remind certain brothers and sisters of mine (all of them ;-p) of their chronological placement in the family: Allison (Ali-Bug), Beth, Bradley, Eric, Heather (reigning Champion*), Jacob, Jeremy, Lindsey (Doodle), Melissa, Mom, Nathaniel, Robert and Teresa.

Oh, the excitement!

So, the procedure is as follows. For each round a certain points allowance is given per selection you've guessed. At the end of the Tournament the member of the family whom has the highest point total wins! The points are delineated as follows:

If you choose correctly in the…
1st round (round of 64): 1 point for each correct pick to advance to the…
2nd round (round of 32): 5 points for each correct pick to advance to the…
3rd round (Sweet 16): 15 points for each correct pick to advance to the…
4th round (Elite 8): 20 points for each correct pick to advance to the…
5th round (Final 4): 30 points for each correct pick to advance to the…
6th round (Championship): 50 points for picking the correct National Champion.

I will be sending out a PDF of everyone's brackets and update them accordingly. Also, I will try to attach them to the blog posts as well.

Having seen the brackets that have been submitted... It looks like it's going to be a close race. Well, either that or Doodle is going to kick the crap out of all of us!

If you have anything you want to post, let me know and I'll post it for you. I'm not sure how to make this public for all to submit. I will probably be posting a 'Brad's Bracket Breakdown' in the coming days to practice my writing skills and to show you all how I went about making my selections.

Happy Bracketing!!! I need them by Wednesday night (Eric, Melissa, etc. you have until noon on Thursday. I hope my little buddy is doing better!).