CERRITOS, CA (smt) - Our HWCI NCAA pool has reached its 16th year (a tribute by Sweet Fabone) and has reached a level of maturity, attracting a record 117 entries and thus, 117 nicknames.  One down, 116 more to go.  This is getting harder coming up with a category for all, but don't say you were never mentioned!

Being 16, we had some "mature" nicknames such as Sexual Napalm, StripClubBuffet (Yelp says they exist!), double-EEs (EEChick and Eekmaster) and Spermicidal Jelly Donut but we also had some cute nicknames such as Zippy, Suznana, Jonna Rocks, and Larzby.

Teams that were loyal to Duke are in great position for money (Blue Devil Blues and You're My Boy Blue) along with the entry who lost his champion, Florida, in the very first game (Another Two-Peat) and an entry (The Pride of Troy!) who supported a team who DQ'd themselves (USC) .  Others aren't so lucky such as those rooting for Maryland (GoTerps and GoTerpsForReal), Cal (Hurricane Oski),  NIT's Illini (IlliNI.T), DNQ Alabama (BamaG, BamaG 2), Kansas St. (EMAW), Purdue (Hummeless), Syracuse (Syracuse Jack), and Ohio St. (David's Lighter, Evan's Tuner, and Buckeye23).

People had nicknames from where they were from (MB Camel Jockies (Mertyl Beach), Chi-Town Mikey's, and Roscoe Villagers) and where they are now but still support the teams they grew up with (MileHighChargers and MileHighLakers).  People's kids were popular nicknames (Cobi's Crusaders, Lea's Bees, and Markey 5) as well as grandkids (SPT-NRT).  Different sports were alluded to such as horse racing (Cnollfan) and soccer (No Becks=No Chance).

Hollywood influences (Bollywood) were apparent through cartoons (SlackJaw, Sandy Cheeks, and SilverSurfer (though he meant it as a gray-haired internet surfer)) and movies (LuckyNumberSlevin, Slumdog, Little Miss Sunchips, Rainman) while mythology made a comeback (Marty the Greek, Eros (although being an engineer, maybe she meant this and hopefully not that), and Sisyphus).

Hungry?  You could try some Carseroni, The Other White Meat, Krispy Kremer (or even have Krispy Seconds), consult the Dough-Boy, or have a CustardPie.  A wide variety of numbers popped up, in order:  AndyParsons1, AndyParsons2, AndyParsons3, ChasCroix5, Sandy7, Dime23, Slamjam51, Punani59, Duni123, and Jason97782.

Basketball references (Droppin' Dimes, TechnicalFowl, EastCoastBias, Shake N' Bake, The Comebacker, and Twine Tickler) and pool references (Poolraider, Has No Idea, AgainstDodds, BracketBoy, Bracket Buster, ChalkHater, Wonder Picks, and BixPix) did not help anyone get in the money.  The overconfident (#1 and All Day) and underconfident (Random and Belucky2) also aren't in the money but three unsure picks are (Jinx, Deemed to Win, and FOMI (Fountain Of Mis-Information)).

On my nickname team called Team Samurai, I'd want The Mighty Mobelfakta and The Rat Pack, Scrimshaw Pirate and Buckeye Mike, Krimsonguard and Flip Fighters, Big Luther and Big Red, Marinomac and Barnikow (I have no idea what these two mean but they sound cool), Flying Ace and Flying Elvi, and Bizarro Larzby.  The team I'd play called just Joe would be Besst, Craigs, Hendo, ChasCroix, PSW, and BrettM.  We did have some fun nicknames (Dr. Fun and Funigan) and poetic (HowardZinn), cultural (Thai Spice, Rainmaker, and RunsWithCrackers), and rap tributes (Cmurder and Gospel Gangsters).

We had some that may be related to companies (M3K and Max Approved) and one that definitely is (PacificaSilver.com).  And thus, that's the sponsor for this newsletter (see logo on top).

And that is 115 through 117.  If I completely mis-categorized your nickname, then please feel free to visit our discussion board or our Facebook page to correct me.  The complete list of nicknames is in our Who's Who list.

Don't forget that you may still be in the running for the $40 Bonus prize as 44-48 entries now have a chance to win Bonus2.

   Tids & Bits - Sexual Napalm was one I was hesitant on accepting until I found out the reason, which is hilarious (plus, we have had some variation on Spermicidal Jelly Donut for years)... we have a nickname with an equal sign (No Becks=No Chance) and number sign (#1) and it didn't crash our java applet... #1 is not our shortest nickname ever, a Star Trek inspired Q was, but it probably is first in alphabetical order of all our nicknames... Jeff L's last appearance was in 2005 while Eric C was last seen in 2006; welcome back guys!... this is the first time we've had a .com as part of the nickname and next time, I think I'll just drop it (e.g., PacificaSilver only) unless it is a completely made-up name... this is not the first time people had used their nicknames as a promo for their business; in 2003, we had Martini Blues which is restaurant/club in Huntington Beach... although we were worried that newer operating systems might not have the appropriate java installed to do the brackets, we only got a couple people who had trouble and most figured out to use a different browser... in fact, we only had one person who tried to enter but never completed a bracket (Mariyam)... and we did kick out a person (Troyboy4) for the first time since 2004 due to non-payment... two people actually misspelled their nickname when putting their entry in, but eagle-eyed Little Miss Sunchips spotted this and I corrected Cobi's Crusanders and TechnicalFowl...