Our first entry was from Brian S. (Flying Elvi) who was going to be on vacation during this time in the Far East so he chose all the favorites for the first few rounds and then ordered his top eight teams (looking at only last week’s rankings).  Luckily, he had Purdue a very low #7 or else he may have regretted it when he came back (Duke was his 5th choice, so they will take out Purdue in the Sweet 16).  Although I picked my teams before Selection Sunday as well last year, we didn’t get the bracket up and running til Monday morning, so the Flying Elvi is the first entry submitted on Sunday since 2005.

Eight more came in on Monday which seems low but this seems to be a harder bracket to crack.  Of course last year, we had just 11 by Tuesday and ended up with a record 114.  Currently, we have 17 which is the same as last year at this time.  Interestingly, 8 of the 17 are online entries (people who somehow trust us with their money and found us through the magic of bing (okay, google).  Last year we had 13 online entries and in 2008 we had a record 15.  Of course, the best part of the online entries is that they always pay up immediately 🙂  The fact 15 of the 17 have paid up is nice (and I have beats on the other two).

For those who have played in the pool for ages, the “Referred by:” box is typically ignored but it does allow people to express their wittiness (if not in their chosen nickname).  Some gems:  “Mom“, “Gosh, I don’t know…been doing it for years...”, “walrus+sledgehammer=orgy“, “History/Picked by 4yr daughter“, “Mrs. Wonderful“, “The voices in my head“, “Ghosts“, “A little bird told me“, and “GOD“.  I bring this up because no one sees this but David F. and myself .  So, the Los Angeles Galaxy (now without Becks but the Galaxy should be used to that) have a mascot, okay, he’s sometimes a starting forward named Alan Gordon.  When the Galaxy missed the playoffs for three straight years, he was a source of entertainment (infamously known for tying his shoelaces while on a break, and thus, the nice cross into the box went to where he would’ve been had he not been tying his shoe).  So last year, Sam N. put down in the referred box “Alan Gordon” – I laughed out loud.  This year, David A. also put down “Alan Gordon” which I thought was classic until I remembered Sammy did it last year.  So if someone calls you an “Alan Gordon”, it’s not a compliment.