EL SEGUNDO/CERRITOS, CA (smt)- The five most popular words in nicknames were "The" (6 times), "Big" (5), "Man" (4), "Mr." (3), "Flying" (3), and "Crowbug" (3 - albeit the same person with three entries).  The most annoying trend were nicknames that were sentences with no spaces between words (4).  With 101 entries, this was bound to happen... two people picking the same nickname (two words) but one used the annoying trend in the prior sentence so the two are different since one has a space in between the two words and the other doesn't.  And one two-word nickname is the same as Mark C's 1999 nickname who... didn't put a space with his DARKSHARK.  Well, it's that time for the my annual nickname issue where I butcher what you intended your nickname to mean.  If you want to defend or explain your nickname, please post on our Discussion Board.

Where to start.  There were mentions of teams who didn't make the tournament (ROBBED OF A THREEPEAT (Florida), NOILLININOPROBLEM (Illinois), OSKI'S MILKSHAKE (Cal), BAMAG (Alabama), and 9ERS IN 09 (Long Beach St.)) and those that did (KLOVE407.8 (UCLA), CARDINAL ZINS (Louisville or Stanford?), TARHEELSUPBRUINSDOWN (UNC), BIGRED (Oklahoma), and BIG RED (Stanford?)).  We had tributes to family members (COBI'S DAD, LEAH'S DAD, KOBERAJ, and PSW-SP) and tributes to themselves (BUCKEYE MIKE, CHUCKIE D, HENDO, KAPPY, MAG, SANTANA, SPITAKULARR, and SUZNANA). 

We had lots of numbers that included 1 (SAMER-1, CROWBUGS1), 2 (SAMER-2, BAMAG2, NK2, CROW2BUGS, and XK2XBOILX), 3 (3CROWINGBUGS and ARBEDY THREE (which I believe is also a tribute)), 14 (THE FABONE 14), 23 (BUCKEYE23), 51 (SLAMJAM51), 82 (FARBER82), and 944 (DC944).  We were also brought to you by the letters B (B-EASY (also a reference to K-State's Michael Beasley) and QUEENB), D (THEBIGDDOG and THELITTLEDDOG), and F (MR F).

People had nicknames that referenced generic pool jargon (BRACKET BUSTER, JINX, PERFECT PICKS, POOLRAIDER, and JOHNNY APPLEHIGHSEEDS), luck & hope (BELUCKY2, FLIP-A-COIN, MR. WIZARD, THE UNFORTUNATE TRUTH, U BETTER BELIEVE IT, WOKIM, and QUICKPICK MCGRAW), and this HWCI NCAA Pool (BACK2BACKHOPEFULLY (Van P who won last year) and IWONTHISSH-T13YRSAGO (Fernando B who on our 1st year)).

Nicknames were short (DK and NK), rhymed (INDY, LARZBY, & ZIPPY), or were alliterations (FLIP FIGHTERS, KOOL KATS, KRISPY KREMER, LUSTIFULLY N LONDON!, MARATHONMAN, THE MIGHTY MOBELFAKTA, and PHILLY PENGUINS (okay, not really an alliteration)).  Some were big (BIG HURT and BIG LUTHER) and some flew (FLYIN' HAWAIIAN, FLYING ACE, and FLYINGELVI).  

There were references to the 80's (CHUCK NORRIS and RALPH MACCHIO (if anyone wants to venture a guess why this nickname was chosen (I know), feel free to post it on the Discussion Board)) and some that could've been related to the 80's (BEEFMASTER, CHICO AND THE MAN, FABIO, and RAINMAN).  The Simpsons (SLACKJAW and YOKEL) are always referenced in our pools but theatre (JUNO INO), futbol (FC RACINE 1634), pirates (SCRIMSHAW PIRATE), Batman (DARK KNIGHT) and other cartoons (MR. WHISKERS) also get mention.   Some sound like they're based on anime (SAMURAI JACK, TEAM SAMURAI, EECHICK, and KRIMSONGUARD) or the military/patriotic (MC_ROCKET, WOODEN_SOLIDIER, and YANKEEAGLE).  Some seemed light-hearted (DR. FUN, CARSERONI RIDES AGAIN, and DAMAN), helpful (SHRINER) and others were bewildering (CUSTARD_PIE, MARCCHARLES, and KRISPY SECONDS).  And of course, our colors (BLUESTARS1996 and YELLOW MONKEY).  That should be all 101 entries...