To basketball fans around the world, the arrival of spring signifies one of the biggest tournaments of the year: March Madness.
Nationally, there are more than 60 million fans who fill out brackets for competitions sake. Whether motivated by money or a small treat, fans work hard to refine their picks based on the latest sports news. A perfect bracket has never been accomplished by any contestant.
Similar to the staff-wide fantasy football competition held in the fall, multiple Homewood teachers and faculty members also complete a bracket poll together.
Participants go on ESPN, fill out a bracket and put their finished product in the poll. Freshman counselor Sara Vines started this friendly competition to boost staff morale and camaraderie.
Gift cards and small cash rewards are given to the top three, as well as bragging rights until next year’s tournament. Although the prizes are not extravagant, Vines believes it is all about the experience of having faculty doing something fun together.
As far as more people joining in the future, Vines understands that teachers are busy with work and their families, and some simply do not care for sports.
Finite Math teacher and soccer coach Matthew Oberneder is a big time participant in the teachers bracket poll. What he likes about the bracket challenge is how random and unpredictable it is to find a winner.
“It ranges from teachers using the mascot strategy or picking their favorite colored teams to some using Chat GPT to fill in their brackets,” Oberneder said.
Oberneder emphasizes the unity the game creates amongst the teachers during the busy spring season because of the low stakes environment.
“With no money or prize on the line it’s a fun little rivalry among teachers,” Oberneder said. “It gives teachers something to talk about in the halls.”
Media center aid Brad Keim placed in the top three last year. He explains there are no pointers for filling out a bracket and that 99% of brackets are busted in the first round. His strategy involves taking his time and going through the bracket game by game.
“I just go down and judge teams based on win-loss record and the conference they play in,” Keim said.
Basketball is not the only thing that encourages bracket participation. With all the March Madness basketball fun going on, Homewood High School hosted a spring chess tournament.
Held by librarian Dutcha Lawson, 32 students from around the school faced off in a single-elimination competition to determine the chess champion of Homewood High School. Senior Palmer Heard won the anticipated matchup against senior Brady Taylor.
“Every year I’ve been here, we’ve done some sort of tournament not related to basketball,” Lawson said. “First two years we did a March Madness on books and now we just did a chess tournament.”
With NCAA games having already tipped off, the madness is in full swing for the most exciting sporting event on the calendar.
