Pick the Final Four! Win fabulous prizes! It’s another Fiasco!
Pretty cool graphic, wouldn't you say? You'll be utterly shocked to learn that I had nothing to do with it.
Our story begins in 1987. I had, as was the custom even then, made my Final Four picks in the Atlanta Journal & Constitution, and they turned out, as was and remains the custom, not so hot. And I got a letter — anyone remember letters? — from a reader saying, “You obviously know nothing about basketball.”
That sentence stuck in my mind, such as it was/is, along with another, this one spoken by then-AJC copy editor Gerry Overton, who said: “I really haven’t followed college basketball much this year, but it’s every red-blooded American’s duty to fill out an NCAA tournament bracket.”
And that, one year later, was what I did: Took two thoughts — one from a snippy reader, one from an esteemed colleague — and decided the guy who obviously knew nothing about basketball should have a little contest to see who did. Thus, in March 1988, was Bradley’s Bracket Fiasco born.
It wasn’t called that in Year 1. That came later, after an entrant scrawled the words “It’s a Fiasco!” on the envelope — anyone remember envelopes? — of his entry. (Yeah, I “borrowed” that, too.) This came at a time when every envelope had to be opened by human hand (mine) and checked by human eyes (mine again) and the winner’s prize was whatever I had lying around the house.
Well, here it is 2011 and we’ve come a good ways. The 24th annual edition of Bradley’s Bracket Fiasco is fixin’ to crank up Sunday night, and our awards have gotten rather better. In addition to the customary Final Four sweatshirt, this year’s champ will receive a 32GB iPad with WiFi and 3G capability.
Also: Our second- and third-place finishers will receive a 32 GB iPod Touch. And: By entering the Fiasco, you’ll be automatically eligible for the $1 million prize in the national contest conducted by our corporate cohort UPICKEM.
The contest opens, as noted above, soon after the bracket is released Sunday night. You can enter by clicking here. (And you MUST enter online. We no longer accept entries via snail mail or fax.) If you entered last year — and 5,376 folks did — you can use the same log-in and password. That’s assuming you remember it. If you don’t, you can create a new log-in.
The contest closes at 11:40 a.m. on Thursday, March 17. Some among you will be saying, “What about the four play-in games? Do we have to pick those, too?” The answer is yes, with an asterisk. Since the bracket will remain open after the four play-in games — two are Tuesday, two more Wednesday — will have been completed, you’ll have the opportunity to change those picks without penalty if you missed any. But you guys are so smart you probably won’t.
Just for the record: The contest isn’t to outpick me, although I still, all these years later, feel duty-bound to offer up my selections for public ridicule. The contest is to have fun and win prizes and, once you’ve won, to tell the world how you did it. (Last year’s champ was Ryan Koudele, the boys’ basketball coach at North Springs High. Go figure, huh?)
And that’s all there is to it. Use these next few days to watch basketball and do your homework. Come back Sunday night ready to reap the fruits of your labors. It’s that time of the year, and it’s Year 24 for the ol’ Fiasco. In Year 1 our champ got a ballcap. This time we’re giving away an iPad. I call that progress.
By Mark Bradley
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67 comments Add your comment
T-Bone
March 10th, 2011
8:52 am
First!!!! Does this one count, since it isn’t a real column?
T-Bone
March 10th, 2011
8:55 am
I’m convinced the Fiasco is rigged. I’ve entered every year for the past 12, but haven’t won yet . . . despite my, ahem, “conversations” with the refs who did the Rutgers game yesterday.
cattledawg
March 10th, 2011
9:07 am
Crap, Im just off my game these days.
Mark Bradley
March 10th, 2011
9:08 am
They’re all “real,” T-Bone. Just for the record.
Mark Bradley
March 10th, 2011
9:09 am
And so are your kudos.
Mark Bradley
March 10th, 2011
9:10 am
I’ve picked the correct Final Four once — in 2004 — and I’m of AARP age. My daughter picked the correct Final Four at age 9.
Paul H
March 10th, 2011
9:10 am
Top 10 again but still not first. Dang it.
Mark Bradley
March 10th, 2011
9:11 am
Paul H, I can’t believe you haven’t had a first yet. You sure?
cattledawg
March 10th, 2011
9:11 am
Im not buying into all the big east hype again this year! The Zags are going out in the first round and Duke is in the final 4.
Mark Bradley
March 10th, 2011
9:12 am
I’m not, either, cattledawg. I actually think the Big East wears itself out in its tournament.
norman
March 10th, 2011
9:18 am
Bradley- How close have you been to correctly picking the “Bradley’s Bracket Fiasco” in the last few years? I would like to know before I fill mine out and taking your advice?
Mark Bradley
March 10th, 2011
9:22 am
I believe I had three right in 2008. Had only one last year.
My advice would be: Always pick opposite of what I pick.
Mark Bradley
March 10th, 2011
9:23 am
After further review, I also had three in 2009.
GT03
March 10th, 2011
9:26 am
You picked Georgia Tech in 2004? You should tell Paul Hewitt before he gets fired. He might like you better.
DawginLex
March 10th, 2011
9:28 am
right now, I have the following:
Kansas
Pitt
Kentucky
Ohio State
My sleepers are Washington and North Carolina.
Pam S
March 10th, 2011
9:33 am
Mark, I generally feel good about “outpicking” you. It’s your daughter that always concerns me.
bjohndawg
March 10th, 2011
9:46 am
I guess we could pick our final four.Kansas, Carolina, Pitt, and BYU…why not? New year, same game, who’s in your final four.
What has college sports become.Everyone remembers the old days. You played till the street lights came on; who needed to eat, you could eat later. Shooting hoops in the dark because you could not see it was pitch black. Everybody could play center.
You played because you loved to play the game. No thought of BCS or final fours national championships. No thought of Super bowls and big paydays. Endorsement deals, those were for actors.
I see what college sports have become, and I frankly want to throw up. ESPN has bastardized college sports to the extent that the NCAA has made it a policy of tapping programs on the wrist out of fear that the TV sports gods will be displeased that they don’t have a certain player or coach available on their game day.
How does a coach lie and get 8 games, but when a player lies he loses a season? How does a coach receive information about a federal scandal at his school and decide it not important enough to act on with the school and the NCAA? And then has the guts to tell the players they should stay in school and “man up to their mistake? All the while squirreling away his dirty little secret? How does a school’s president make light of the coaches’ stupidity and joke that he worries the coach will fire him? The president’s comments all the more troubling as we see whole school systems cheating in order to make system test scores.
And how does a father offer his son for sell, like he is renting a lawnmower to the local landscaping company. Do you see a trend here? A coach, a school president, a father. The authority figures cannot get it right, how are the kids suppose to get it right? How can you hold the players accountable and say “ you should know better, you can read the NCAA rules, we give you a pamphlet”, when the authorities in charge who make a living in the industry and are suppose to know the rules like the back of their hand cannot make the right judgment call?
Sad times for college sports.
BALI ..
March 10th, 2011
9:46 am
this is my favorite time of the year….i am really ready for the fiasco this year……..no more playing around…taking no more prisoners……….. the sweatshirt is mine…..
Mark Bradley
March 10th, 2011
9:53 am
I picked Tech in 2004. I also picked Tech in 2005.
Buckeye
March 10th, 2011
9:53 am
Duke
Notre Dame
BYU
Ohio State
Ohio State wins the NCAA. ( we’re a basketball school)
Just SHOOT Me
March 10th, 2011
10:08 am
BYU isn’t making the final four. Are you crazy? No way…Arguably not even with their starting center who has since been suspended. So who do I think makes the final four? Depends on the brackets. It all comes down to the brackets.
ormewood
March 10th, 2011
10:14 am
North Carolina will likely be a 2 or a 3 seed. That hardly qualifies as a sleeper.
Dr. Kenneth Noisewater
March 10th, 2011
10:16 am
i’m all for it, won it last year amongst friends on yahoo…actually had butler in the final four.
Buckeye
March 10th, 2011
10:27 am
Bradley,
I hope you had your daugher in a high stakes pool!
southern bell
March 10th, 2011
10:38 am
depending on the brackets I’m thinking
Kansas
Carolina
Ohio State
Pitt
Lowcountry Bulldawg
March 10th, 2011
11:14 am
Long Island – see the way the held off Robert Morris?
Wofford- Defeated the great Bobby Cremins
St. John- They have ref on there side
Harvard- First time in since ‘46? I smell a run coming then.
chewyandrw
March 10th, 2011
11:18 am
I actually remembered my username and password! What does that get me?
Remarkable
March 10th, 2011
11:57 am
No way Kentucky goes far.
Have to go with:
DUKE and LOUISVILLE in the final four. Have to check out brackets before going further. Can’t pick against Duke even if you want to and Louisville keeps beating the teams ranked higher than them.
Skeezix
March 10th, 2011
12:05 pm
Subject to change based on how the brackets are drawn:
Ohio St., Kansas, Duke, UNC
my “sleeper”—St. Johns
Skeezix
March 10th, 2011
12:28 pm
My top eight are Ohio St., Kansas, Duke, UNC, Pitt, Notre Dame, Purdue,San Diego St.
Watch out for–St. Johns and Louisville
mmgtfan
March 10th, 2011
1:15 pm
Bradley, I think the winner should also get an all-expense paid lunch by you at Taco Bell
Fish Bisch
March 10th, 2011
1:27 pm
I love Taco Bell
MatthewH
March 10th, 2011
3:06 pm
Mark,
Are you going to be in Greensboro for the game tonight?
Mark Bradley`s Booster
March 10th, 2011
3:25 pm
Duke, Pitt, Florida, Kansas
SOUTH GA DAWG FAN
March 10th, 2011
3:25 pm
I am in i think i finished dead last in the last one that takes talent
Just SHOOT Me
March 10th, 2011
3:29 pm
I’m thinking Wofford will make the sweet 16. Just look at how balanced their team is. Upset city alert. Wofford moves to the 2nd round.
Dink
March 10th, 2011
3:43 pm
Mark:
One thing I’ve learned these past few years, never pick Pitt. But how many times have you seen a highly ranked team get bounced early in their conference tourney & then make a big-time run? Could it be their year, finally?
Man I love March Madness.
collegedude
March 10th, 2011
4:07 pm
So will I have to pick up my iPad at the AJC or will you guys mail it to me when I win this thing?
collegedude
March 10th, 2011
4:08 pm
oops pod not pad
bucket
March 10th, 2011
4:25 pm
Ohio State, Kansas, North Carolina, Florida (although North Carolina and Florida will probably be in the same bracket.)
marcus
March 10th, 2011
4:34 pm
GEEZ BRADLEY! I had no idea you had a sense of humor? goodluck in the picum.
marcus
March 10th, 2011
4:38 pm
UNC, Kansas, Arizona and St John’s……………
with the Heels getting a W in the finals, especially after the NCAA gave Duke theirs.
Beast from the East
March 10th, 2011
5:18 pm
How can you pick the Final Four when you don’t even know what the brackets will look like?
Only a few days away, guys. Hang in there!
Rabun Dawg
March 10th, 2011
6:08 pm
Kansas will break your brackets. I pick them every year and somehow they fall on their face. As much as I hate to think of it, UNC is playing as well as anyone since the genius Williams figured out that Marshall was his point man(not, took his players to get that across to him). I would love to see the Dookies do it again, but they haven’t been able to throw it in the ocean lately. But, never count coach K out of the picture. The tourney looks to be pretty wide open this year, no real clear cut favorite. Probably one of the Big East teams will survive and win it all. Maybe even Notre Dame?
"Chef" Tim Dix
March 10th, 2011
7:36 pm
to win itall? I’m going with Phoenix U. (I know always a bridesmaid).
My cinderella, well that would be the Art Institute of Pittsburg.
the watch dog
March 10th, 2011
7:43 pm
The final four will be all BIG EAST, in fact the final 8 will be all BIG EAST, and the winner is SYRACUSE. The final four will be, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame and St. Johns.
Now there may be some disagreement, I understand that, little local loyalty to the local teams, but in your heart, you know I am right.
Mark Bradley
March 10th, 2011
7:45 pm
Why not have an all-Big-East Sweet Sixteen?
OldTimer
March 10th, 2011
9:27 pm
The final four are…
Charlie Sheen
The Governor of Wisconsin
Obama
and ?
Donald Trump
March 10th, 2011
10:23 pm
Paul Hewitt
You’re fired. Get outta here. I woulda fired you 4 years ago, you slouch.
Another Mark
March 11th, 2011
1:25 am
Mark, you need to stop being mean to CPH. “He has a good relationship with the Atlanta media except for one person.
“