ESPN Tournament Challenge Group -- All Tourney Talk Here
 

My fellow officials,

I created a group on the ESPN Tournament Challenge Page for officials off of this forum to choose your brackets for the Men’s NCAA Tournament. The information is below that you need to enter in order to participate. There is another group that has a similar name, only use this group name and password and you should be OK to sign up. I hope this takes away a little confusion that people have been having for the last day or so. Good luck to all and let us all have a little fun.

Group name: Official's Forum

Password: Whistle blower

I hope to see many of you participating. Let the games begin.

Tournament Challenge Link

Peace

I'm #5. Probably as high as I'll get.

Want some of my meds?

Will Skippy have an entry?

Did the forum just get the sticky functionality? I'm all about the brackets, and I joined already, but surely there have been some other topics worthy of being a sticky.

Can we sticky a thread that answers some common questions?

Probably it has to be 'stickyworthy'.:D

I tried to join, but it says the group is locked and is no longer accepting entries.

Re:

Working now...I don't know what I was doing wrong.

I know, but I'm not talking about one of my threads or a specific thread. I'm sure one of the hundreds of threads we've had is worthy of a sticky.

An FAQ would be nice to have.

I don't think I'll participate in this one.

http://www.beingll.com/archive/jul03...get_sticky.jpg

But if we get an FAQ, where will all the fun come from in watching the penny drop with new people trying to figure out the back court violation or if they can catch their own airball in pickup games?!? :eek:

Or if we'll join the fanboy chorus in saying the refs in their favorite team's game were biased and out to get them.

I'm totally sticky.

Seriously, my son put gum in my hair. Ah, the fun of three year olds.......

I'm in.
Thanks Rut

Okay, here's my proposed FAQ. This is the entire thing:

Q: Did those refs just really suck, or were they trying to screw my team?

A: Both. The higher up you go, the worse the refs are. This is universally how it's done. The best refs of all of us work 2nd and 3rd grade travel leagues, feeders for high-level 4th grade leagues.

And just so you know, all refs hate your team. Every last one of us. If any one of us had the misfortune to work a game with your team, we'd make sure you not only got hosed again like you got in your last game, we'd probably do worse.

Oh yeah, I forgot to add this --------------> :D

I'm In!

After wathing KU and UT yesterday...I'll take that game for the Championship! Wow..what a game yesterday!

I have joined the group.

I'm in!

I'm in and ready to go.

For some reason, I can't sign into the game. I've been trying all morning. I'll keep trying, but everytime I try, it comes back and says it can't find the page or something. Hopefully, it's just a temporary thing for the day.

More hopefully it's not.

There is a similar sounding group name. Of course, if you are typing "Billy Packer Fans", you are going to continue to have problems.

I saw that too.

The one we all want is called Official's Forum.

The group that is not "us" is called Official Forums Bracket.

You are correct. I should have clarified that as well. I almost joined that group until I figured out that was not from this site. That is why I created this group.

Peace

You picked Arizona State to win it all

Shhhhhhhh, you are going to spoil my plan. You see, they are appealing not getting in and if they win I'm the only one who picked them to go all the way. Start sending the big screens and cash to my address!! :D

Not bad!

OK, I'm in again this year, at least until Rut kicks me out again.

Ncaa
 

Is anybody concerned about the wagering questionnaire that asks about participating in pools?
Does it not matter if there's no money involved?
Just wondering....

I thought this was to see who the best fanboy is.

Is this a serious question? Are you actually asking if anybody gets worried about betting zero dollars?

I think hes asking if Ncaa cares, if they are more looking into you if you partcipate in pools, even without money. I mean, iff Ncaa ddnt care, why ask?

editted to correct typing.

I get that. My question remains. Do you honestly think anybody (NCAA included) worries about betting zero dollars?!?! :confused:

Really? :p

Is anybody else having trouble logging in to the game site? I've been trying for 2 days and it always times out after I put in my password.

I had trouble logging in initially as well - at first it wouldn't accept my old login, then it looked like it did accept it, but it never showed the "Enter Bracket" button. I finally re-registered, and everything came up.

Either the site's too busy, or it's trying to eliminate some of the good competition... :cool:

No problems on my end.

I can't get in. :confused:

May have something to do with enabling cookies, or security level being set too high.

Not for me. It gives me a "timed out" message, not a security message. Plus, this is the same account that I use for their football fantasy games.

YU.P. Half a cookie won't do either - you need a whole cookie saved on your computer. :p

Pool
 

You bet zero dollars but you may win big prizes and you still care about your bracket for bragging rights. Also, that may give you a rooting interest for or against teams you will see during the season.
I know tournament officials aren't allowed to fill out brackets money or not.

On a side note...
 

I've noticed that ESPN's pool now allows you to enter 10 entries. In the past, they've only allowed 5 entries.

So much for the sheet of integrity.

Gives you a chance to do a 'what I think' vs 'what I want' opportunity.

Won't accept the password "Whistle blower".....anyone else having a problem?:eek:

It didn't work for me at first, but I didn't have the "space" between the words. It should work if you type just like you have it. Whistle blower

Remember to also be in the right group - Official's Forum (correct) vs. Official Forums Bracket (wrong)

Yup. I agree with 26 Year Gap.

Hey! You're a real pal. :D

.....and it is case sensitive.

I wouldn't want to join the wrong group, post on their message board, and be flamed a "refboy". :D

We could talk about how horrible the fans were in the last game we worked.

Ha ! <IIIII>

:) Yeah, I know *Whistle Blower* does't work.

I love it when someone is giving me their email address and they tell me which letters are lower case and which ones are capital letters.

I get addresses like [email protected] and URLs like [email protected].

You mean it doesn't matter????:eek: :eek: :eek:

for those who can't get in--- for the search type in official's and then view all results. it should be there. without it only the bracket one was showing up. if it says wrong password refresh and try again.

But [email protected] is so much more stylish...

A pox on you and all your family for even typing that eye-twisting monstrosity. :mad:

Trust me it was painful to type. :o

ok I'm in
Stew in VA

Not as painful as it was to read.
That was just plain mean. ;)

Well, my email bounced back. Along with many fabulous offers.

even though I'll probably get a call to work the final four...i still submitted an entry, i guess I'll have to tell them I i can't work cause i entered a pool:mad:

Way to take one for the team. Your integrity is exemplary.

2008 March Madness Chatroom
 

Notes:

• Java required
• no website registration required
• username required before entering room

<III><III>

Did the glue on the back of this sticky already fail for some reason?

It was merely stuck for sign-up convenience. ;)

OK. I guess that's just a little odd given the fact that I made a post about the pre-game commentary on CBS in a new thread I created, and bob immediatley locked that thread and added this comment:

And then, less than an hour later, that thread is no longer stuck. I would have expected, based on bob's comment, that the thread would remain stuck to the top for the rest of the tournament.

http://www.clicksmilies.com/s1106/fr...smiley-013.gif
If the thread has it's own legs, it will stay near the top.
There is no conspiracy. ;)

...And yes, I am odd.

I reckon it's stuck, again. :)

Wait a minute, I didn't have time to read all pages, but if we are doing all of our tourney talk here, does that include the yearly "stupid Packer comments" thread? I think that still deserves a separate thread.

I made a similar post and it up and disappeared. I saw the sticky but thought it referred to the bracket game.

It would seem so since the two posts relating to the NCAA Tournament that have been posted under separate threads are no longer available (one closed, one deleted).

On ESPN First Take this morning, they were debating "which would you rather watch, NCAA or NBA?" Skip Bayless, without a doubt one of the champs in the "I don't know what the hell I'm talking about, but I do it in a loud voice" contest,
said he preferred the NBA because their games are already playoff intensity this time of year, and NCAA officiating is "amateurish at best." Talk about not being qualified to criticize. What are this guy's qualifications?

He was actually born "Skip Clueless", but ESPN made him change his name so he would not be confused with Billy Packer.

summary, Thursday: No OT. No 1's, 2's, 3's, 4's, or 5's downed. No 50 point spread. Pac-10 3-2. Other leagues?

Big 10: 3-0, 1 remaining tomorrow (Indiana vs. Arkansas)

I guess it matters what region you are in but there was a break in the games where CBS went to 10 straight minutes of ads. awful coverage at times. At least they left the ucla game early

I had a feeling...
 

...someone would be 16-0 after that drama-lacking day. Congrats to JYates.

Sitting 15-1 and I don't think I ever have won 15 on the first day and it doesn't seem like an enormous accomplishment.

How many others would've tossed their brackets in the trash with glee had Dook lost. And how many time did we have to hear about the rat being sick on the sidelines?

BTW, I loved the officiating in the Duke game. Lots of physical play, whistles in pockets for the most part. It really benefited Belmont's style of defense and their nothing-to-lose attitude.

Had to laugh when the clock got just below 8 minutes though and the most ticky-tack hand check was called out top. Goes to my theory that once they're under the media timeout threshold it seems as though they're looking for a pretty quick whistle. Now, it's not like when I was a kid going to the WWF TV tapings and Gorilla Monsoon would come out of the back and run his finger across his throat and the match would end within 10 seconds or so.... :D

Surprisingly the Big XII went 3-1, with UT and OU still to play although I only see KU an UT making through the weekend.

And we have our first Billy Packer sighting. He's calling the Gonzaga-Davidson game at Raleigh.

I think I should get a stopwatch out to see how long until the first dumb comment.

More from ESPN First Take: Jemele Hill, commenting on the USC/Kansas State game, said matter of factly that NBA refs are cognizant of the fact that "the stars have to stay on the floor," while this is not the case in NCAA. Not sure whether this was supposed to be a good thing or a bad thing, one way or the other.

I'm not finding the results in case someone is willing to throw the correct address in here for that. Thanks.

I don't think you could click it quickly enough.

I have friends at that game. They should have that sign with them.

What sign?

I'm annoyed from a local fan perspective. CBS was showing the St. Mary's/Miami game and they switched to Tennessee and American. I know St Mary's is getting their butts kicked but its a local team, I'd rather watch that game. :(

Great offensive foul call late in the WKY Drake game....also good because I thought there was a push off on the WKY basket that made it 88-85.

Looks like we're goin to OT...

BTW - can you believe that Curry kid - so long, Zags....

On this, I can't blame CBS. There have been many complaints in the past where one game is a blow-out, and they stuck with that game when there were other closer, more exciting games. But if they switch to the more exciting game, the fans interested in the original game get upset. So they're damned if they do, damned if they don't.

I would say for most casual fans, switching to the more exciting game over the scheduled blow-out is better. If you want to watch every game, in it's entirety, get that particular satellite or cable package.

You're just as heartless as the tin man.

I know.

I'm practicing for getting old. :D

What you say does make the most sense but I'm gonna b|tch about it anyways. :D

What a way for that Western Kentucky/Drake game to end!!

Have you met my wife?!? :eek: :D

There's CBS's "One Shining Moment" for this tournament, so far.

Drake vs. W. Kent. 2nd half 3:04 left

IW on IB pass, followed by phantom foul. Same official.

IW - they happen. Next play evaluator sees a call that he has good look at, knows it was another mistake. Would that sort of thing keep an official from next weekend's games? Is it already decided who is officiating next week (besides Welmer)? I presume it would depend on the officials ratings beyond this one game.

My understanding that 96 officials work the first round. From those 96, 48 make it to round 2. Your advancement from one round to the next can be affected by each game you work.

Drake-Western Kentucky Buzzer Beater

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tre8Xa04g8Q

Not entirely true.

Officials are pre-assigned to games in the first two rounds. The officials know ahead of time whether they are working just a first-round game or a first- and second-round game. After the weekend, all 100 officials (includes the opening round game) are eligible for assignment to the regionals (40 officials). Any regional official is eligible for assignment to the Final Four (10 officials).

That said, if anything *huge* happened, I'm sure they can easily find a replacement for a second-round ref and send the original guy home.