Illinitalk

Chief and Alma Mater,

You have each posted on where you stand on the whole "sheet(s) of integrity" issue. My position on this has evolved over the years. In the past, I subscribed to the Golic method of filling out multiple sheets, whether it be for one pool or for multiple pools. In those cases, most of my picks were similar but I varied my upsets a little bit and my champion varied as well. The idea was to try to maximize my chances of winning the pool. This worked well when each entry into a pool was a very, um, shall we say low investment.

As the investment costs have gone up, I have come around to the Greenie method of having one "sheet of integrity." This year, I have filled out my brackets (just one sheet) but have not actually entered any pools. The normal ones I used to enter have disbanded for various reasons and the only pool opportunity that arose this year was one in which you were assigned two teams based on a random drawing and you had the opportunity to have a return on your investment if your team made the Sweet 16 and for each round after that. I simply don't like this type of pool because there is no skill or reasoning involved so I chose not to enter it.

I think Golic and Greenie can each make good cases for why they believe what they do. From my experience, though, if you have multiple sheets you can often be happy about the results of the game regardless of who wins. But the cost of that is you don't necessarily have a rooting interest in each game. I like to be able to root for one team or the other without rooting against one of my picks so the one sheet works well for me these days. Plus, like the U.S. Olympic Committee told Chicago, you have got to have some "skin in the game!"

Now I have a question for the two of you. Are you up for a little friendly competition between friends? I will put my sheet up against each of yours but Alma Mater, you have to pick just one of the sheets you filled out. Let me know.

Best regards,
Good Hope Orange

Labels: Brackets, NCAA Tournament, Sheet of Integrity