CERRITOS, CA (smt)- I guess the strong indications of early entries being submitted was a good sign as a record 82 entries came in, beating our record of 80 in 2002 and marks the third straight year entries have increased. We also had a record with 73 unique people and 65 return entries from previous years. Eight entered at least twice (including yours truly) with at least six going home empty handed (including yours truly).

This year it seems people got a little more "creative" and maybe too cute with their nicknames. Symbols such as ".", "$", "&", "!", "-", "'", and "_" seemed to be in abundance this year. And of course, one side effect was that it was harder to view your bracket after the fact because some symbols (e.g., "&") don't translate well into URL addresses. Something to think about for next year.

And, although far from FCC territory, nicknames are getting a little more rough as we allowed "Bitch", "PotSmokin'", and "USC" (j/k) to become part of our pool vernacular. And on the flip side, boring nicknames again were plentiful. If you're not mentioned in this update, it's mostly because I couldn't think of anything to say or that you've used the same nickname in previous years (my hand raised- pot calling the kettle black). Characters from "The Simpsons" is one of our biggest sources for nicknames for some strange reason. From my count, there were just two (FRANK GRIMES and SLACKJAW), an off year, but other TV shows were referenced such as "The O.C." (WELCOMETOTHEOCBITCH) and "Amos and Andy" (CALHOUN AND KINGFISH, though maybe this is a reference to UConn's head coach since he had UConn winning it all?).

We had hope that is alive (LUCKORBUST) and faith that was misplaced (FAITH MANAGES (sigh...) and LEAH'S LEAP OF FAITH). We had confident picks that held up (HOOPGURU and ACE OF SPADES) and those that did not (BRACKET BUSTER, THE NATURAL, DRNAISMITH, MR WIZARD - UNO & DOS, METHOD TO THE MADNESS, and one of my favorites of this year, COPACETIC (look it up!)).

We had references to sports such as boxing (KING KLITSCHKO) and soccer (COBI'S CRUSADERS (who are probably now Landon's Crusaders) and SAMPSON IS THE ANSWER (which by signing Landon, may save his job)). We had those who placed too much faith in Wake Forest (CHRIS PAUL FOR PREZ and STPAULCROTCHPOPPERS), Illinois (BIRTH-ILLINI-DEATH, who due to picking Duke & Florida in his Final Four, "died" after Round 3), and our HWCI NCAA Charlie Brown, Ken B, who stuck with Florida again (WHITEPOTSMOKIN'GATORS, who was originally DRUNKEN GATORS, which he might be now - thank goodness USC isn't good so I don't have loyalty issues).

We had dogs (G-DOGG, T-DOG (these two not related as I first thought... and we had a K-DOGG in 1997), and RAW DAWG (apparently no connection to the Dawgs of U. of Washington) and birds (BIRD LEGS and YANKEEAGLE). We had colorful nicknames (BIG RED, BLUESTARS1996, YELLOW MONKEY), random numbers (ANNIHILATOR44, REGGIEK945, FARBER82, GWENSIX, and THE FABONEONE (meaning 11, such as this is the 11th year of our pool...sigh...)), and cheeri"o"'s (HENDO, SENITO, BINGO, FABIO, and ROBBO). Some disturbing names (MKULTRA (another favorite), NOMEX, and KEADY COMBOVERS (which there is an obscure reference to Purdue coach Gene Keady) and interesting takes on the person's name (SUZNANA, LARZBY, ANNABELLE, ROB'S ADDICTION).

Of course, there are mysteries such as KOBERAJ (might be a sylheti word "Kobiraj" meaning geek/bookworm), C$ (cent-dollar?? well, this year, zero-dollar), WOODEN_SOLDIER, and DAVYEPSY!. And we also had sequels to previous nicknames (TROY SOLDIERS 2, CARSERONI RIDES AGAIN, and KRISPY KREMER SECONDS (which is pretty clever, IMHO).

When we call this pool for friends and family, the family part is expanding (hmmm... sounds like the family edition of "The Amazing Race"). We have five husband-wife entries (so far, if you count some dual entries by myself and Troy B, the Wives lead 4-2-1), three father-son duals (including dual entry by myself, the Dads lead 3-1), and one mother-sons team (two sons, and as you might expect, mother knows best, winning 2-0). Not including Jane D's sons, there were ten online entries, a record. Thanks to all.