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4B – Daily News – Tuesday, March 15, 2011 ’First 4’ games a dilemma for NCAA tourney pools By JAIME ARON AP Sports Writer Filling out an NCAA tournament bracket is tougher this year, and it has nothing to do with the caliber of competition. It’s the bracket itself that is more maddening. Instead of a single ‘‘play-in’’ game that most pool man- agers ignored, this year’s tournament features the debut of an ‘‘opening round’’ of four midweek matchups. That left bracket meisters around the country to decide whether to ask their buddies to pick all 67 games by tipoff Tuesday evening, or to give them until the usual time on Thursday at the risk of skipping an entire layer of games that could produce the tournament’s first upsets. The purist might say ‘‘Pick ’em all.’’ But the realists seem to be winning this debate. It looks like the the majority of contests are sticking with the old way of doing things. From ESPN.com and its pool that drew 5.4 million entries last year to Mark Fehrman of Wausau, Wis., and his pool of about 80 entries, the reason- ing was the same: People already were pushing the Thurs- day deadline, so it just didn’t make any sense to ask them to pick four more games in two less days. ‘‘I thought about it all weekend,’’ said Fehrman, a paper Courtesy photo The Tehama County AAU Under-16 Volleyball team Team Riot took first place at the Jan. 30 Area Volleyball Tournament at Jackson Sports Academy in Sacramento. On Feb. 12 Team Riot returned to Sacramento and backed-up those top honors with a second place finish at the 32- team non-area tournament.The Riot is coached by Cori Hunt and Shellie Shellabarger and will finish its season competing in the Jackson Sports Academy Power League. The Riot is (from back left): Cori Hunt, Calisha Cruise, Jennifer Gentry, Ella Fleet, Jessica Curl, Morgan Hampton-Glines, Kayce Kemp, Breana Kemp, Hannah Woodal, Shellie Shellabarger, Tayler Zazueta, Larissa Vogelbarcher and Laura DeFonte. broker who is in his 12th year of running his pool. ‘‘I con- sidered offering an incentive, maybe an extra point if they got their bracket in on time and got it right. But knowing the group, everyone is going to drag their feet.” Jason Waram, vice president of fantasy games and social media for ESPN.com, said his staff began kicking around this dilemma last summer, shortly after the NCAA decided to expand the field from 65 teams to 68. They also polled some contestants to see what they thought. After what he called ‘‘definitely a spirited debate,’’ the status quo won out. ‘‘First and foremost, it was about getting the most people inside and letting them have a chance,’’ Waram said. ‘‘We all know that the more people in this, the more fun it is.’’ The same was true at Yahoo, which had another thing to consider — its $1 million bonus for accurately picking every game. Considering that no entry has come closer than 56 of 63, there wasn’t much of a push to make the challenge any more difficult, said Edwin Pankau, Yahoo’s senior product manager for fantasy sports. ‘‘I read somewhere that getting perfect with 63 is about as likely as winning the Powerball twice in a row,’’ he said. ‘‘Getting perfect with 67 is probably up to 10 times in a row.’’ In addition to their nationwide contests, ESPN.com and Yahoo also host pools for people who put together a contest among family, friends and co-workers. This year, those pools are limited to the usual 63 games. Waram and Pankau said there may be an option for those smaller pools to switch to a 67-game format next year. Courtesy photo The undefeated Boys fifth and sixth grade Education Calendar March 2011 Diabetic Education Tuesday, March 15 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm Columba Room Education 529-8026 Used Book Sale Tuesday & Wednesday March 22-23 10:00 am - 4:00 pm Warde McAuley call 736-1326 Grief Support Meets every Thursday, 3-5 pm call Kristin 528-4207 St. Elizabeth Community Hospital A member of CHW www.redbluff.mercy.org/sports Beauty Rest Savings up to 50% off Mattresses Furniture DEPOT www.thefurnituredepot.net HOURS: MONDAY-FRIDAY 9:00-6:00 SATURDAY 9:00-5:00 • SUNDAY 11:00-5:00 235 S Main St., Red Bluff • 530 527-1657 NoTAXSale Recliners Thurs. March 31, 2011 Thru basketball team #2 Bears pose for a picture. The Bears are: Nero Dotson, Max Ferreira, Matthew Garrison, Trenton Houghtby, Sean Morton, Garrett Moser, Ricky Ornelas, Joseph Thomson and Edwardo Vieira. They were coached by Greg T. Morton, Shawn Garrison and Ozzie Ornelas. In a sampling of more than a dozen pools Monday by The Associated Press, one of the few that bumped up its deadline was in the clubhouse of the Houston Astros. Third baseman Chris Johnson said he and his teammates were scrambling to get their ballots turned in, but they also had extra motivation about this year’s tournament. The Final Four and the championship game are in Houston. ‘‘I gotta get home and do some serious research,’’ John- son said. ‘‘But I’ve got Duke winning it all.’’ The new tournament format caught plenty of fans and pool organizers by surprise. Since the old play-in game was for a No. 16 seed and the dubious honor of being first-round fodder for the No. 1 over- all seed, it was widely assumed the ‘‘First Four’’ games would serve up the fresh meat for all four No. 1 seeds. It wasn’t until the new-look bracket came out Sunday that the masses realized how different things are. Only two of the games will decide No. 16 seeds. The others will decide the No. 11 seed in the Southwest and the No. 12 seed in the East.No matter how much confusion the new format causes, just remember that it could’ve been worse. The NCAA had been considering a tournament with 96 teams. Tehama Family Fitness Center wants to inspire you to get Healthy • Fit • Strong • and Happy! Compete, support or just attend one, or all four of these events this March. Shape Up Tehama March 5th Free Nutrition Open House & Shape up Registration 11:00-2:00 Free tasting provided by the Riverside Healthy Side Program at TFFC Free Lecture on Happiness March 12th 3:00-4:30 at TFFC Dave Mobilio Bench Press Championships March 19th 5:00pm at TFFC Dog Island 5K Run March 26th 8:30am at Dog Island Park Tehama Family Fitness Center 2498 South Main St • Red Bluff 528-8656 www.tehamafamilyfitness.com