BrotherJimmys.com 2009 NCAA Bracket Challenge Rules

OFFICIAL RULES

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN

Scoring
Each correct selection is worth points, based on the scoring grid below. If there is no bonus specified, the number of points equals the Weight for the round. If there is a bonus, multiply or add the seed of the winning team to the weight.

Weights and Bonus type per round:

Pick Deadline
Deadline for submitting picks is March 20th, 11:45 AM ET.

Fees
There is no entry fee for this contest

Pool Rules
The other sections of this rules page are generated based on settings entered by the pool manager. This section is for other pool rules that can be uploaded and subsequently edited in the Front Office by the pool manager.

You can almost hear the roar of the crowd already. The 2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament is just around the corner, prompting many NCAA hoops enthusiasts to begin contemplating the structure of their own tournament brackets. On March 16, 2009, the Tournament selection committee will seed the field of 65 teams which will compete for NCAA Men's Basketball glory. Once the seedings are complete, it's time to start the wheels of your own NCAA Tournament strategy in motion.

In order to have a legitimate chance at making a successful run through the entire tournament, you need to have a game plan. The following is a list of guidelines you should carefully consider before filling out your brackets. With the help of these tips, you'll have a distinct advantage over your fellow "bracketeers" as you advance through the Sweet 16, Elite 8 and Final Four rounds on your way to the National Championship. Let the Madness begin!

Examine each bracket closely. If you're going to have any chance at winning this contest, the first thing you'll need to do is take a closer look at the 16 teams in each bracket and where they're playing their respective tournament games. If one of the higher-seeded teams (1-4) plays its first two games in or around its home state, it could prove to be a huge advantage. For example, say the Duke Blue Devils are seeded No. 1 in the East Region. They could realistically play their first two games at the Greensboro Coliseum, in their home state of North Carolina. With this sort of "home court advantage," a team could gain a great deal of confidence from its fans, which would gear them up even more for the Sweet 16 round and beyond.

Another factor in examining each bracket is determining which region will give the higher-seeded teams an edge. In almost every tournament, at least one bracket is considered "weaker" than the rest, which would indicate that the top seeds would have an easier time advancing. In 1997, the North Carolina Tar Heels were considered to be in a weak bracket, and were picked by many as a cinch Final Four team. After the second-seeded South Carolina Gamecocks were beaten in the first round by the 15th-seeded Coppin State Eagles, the bracket became that much easier for the Tar Heels. They didn't play a team ranked higher than fifth that year, and reached the Final Four before losing to the eventual National Champions, the Arizona Wildcats.

Invite Cinderella to the big dance. In every NCAA Tournament, a "cinderella" team emerges to wreak havoc with countless bracket prediction sheets, making them about as worthless as a temper management seminar held by Bobby Knight. In 1999, the 10th-seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs tore through the first three rounds of the tournament, defeating such heavyweights as Stanford and Florida. They reached the Elite Eight, where they fell to the eventual champions, the Connecticut Huskies. Those "bracketeers" who picked Gonzaga to play the role of cinderella in '99 likely did quite well in their tournament pools. A good way to pick a cinderella is by checking out the regular season schedules of some of the higher-seeded teams in the tournament. For example, the Richmond Spiders of the Colonial Athletic Conference gave ACC power Wake Forest all it could handle in a game back in November, losing to the Demon Deacons by a 69-61 final. Couple an 18-6 record with the experience they gained in that game alone, and Richmond might be a team you'd consider should they reach the tournament this season. However, don't be too daring in picking your sleeper team for the tournament - No. 1 and No. 2 seeds very rarely lose in the opening round of the tournament.

Never pick all four No. 1 seeds to advance to the Final Four. Simply stated, this just doesn't happen. There have been two occasions in the last five years where as many as three top seeds have reached the Final Four (1997 and 1999), but even the chances of that happening are pretty slim. Since the NCAA tournament is a "sudden death" format, it's never out of the question for a one-seed to have a bad shooting night while its "overmatched" opponent shoots the lights out. Just ask the 1998 Kansas Jayhawks, who were the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region, only to be knocked out of the tournament by the eighth-seeded Rhode Island Rams in the second round. Another interesting tidbit to consider is the fate of the No. 2 seeds in the tournament. Nine No. 2 seeds have been knocked out of the tournament in the second round over the last five years, and one - South Carolina in 1997 - was knocked out in the first round. In fact, only one No. 2 seed - Iowa State - made it out of the second round in last season's tourney.

Pick an ACC team to reach the Final Four. More to the point, pick either North Carolina or Duke to reach the Final Four. Over the last four years, at least one of these two teams has reached the tournament's final destination (North Carolina in 1997, 1998 and 2000, and Duke in 1999). As of late February, both the Tar Heels and Blue Devils were ranked in the top three in the country, so both squads seem well on their way to another Final Four appearance. Despite their success in reaching the Final Four, however, only once has either team actually reached the championship game (Duke in 1999), and neither team has won the tournament over that span. Another conference to keep your eye on is the Big Ten, which has had four teams - Michigan State in 1999 and 2000, Wisconsin in 2000, Ohio State in 1999 and Minnesota in 1997 - reach the Final Four over the last four years.

The "5/12 rule." It almost always seems to happen - a five-seed loses in the first round to a No. 12 seed. In fact, six No. 5 seeds have been upset by a No. 12 seed over the last five years. That number might have been seven had the Butler Bulldogs not lost to the Florida Gators in the last seconds in the first round of last year's tourney. In the 1999 NCAA Tournament, UCLA fell to the Detroit Titans of the Midwest Collegiate Conference, while Wisconsin was badgered by the Southwest Missouri State Bears, who actually went on to the Sweet 16 that year. In 1996, both Drexel and Arkansas defeated their fifth-seeded opponents en route to a second-round game. With that said, you may want to consider making one of the four No. 12 seeds your own cinderella team for this year's dance.

Brother Jimmyâs BBQ ("Sponsor") free 2009 Brother Jimmyâs Annual NCAA Brackets Challenge (the "Promotion") is a competition based on the 2009 NCAA Division I Men's College Basketball Tournament. On March 16, 2009, the NCAA selection committee will seed the qualifying college basketball teams. Contestants will compete against each other in an attempt to correctly predict the winners of all the tournament games. Contestants will earn points by correctly predicting the winning teams. All predictions must be submitted by the selection deadline stated below. The number of points awarded for each correct pick will increase with each round of the tournament. The exact number of points awarded is set forth in the Making Picks section below. The contestant who accumulates the most points will win prizes as described in the Prizes section.

This Promotion will begin on Monday, March 16, 2009 and will run through the tournament's Final Game.

Administration
Brother Jimmyâs BBQ will serve as the administrator for the 2009 Brother Jimmyâs Annual NCAA Brackets Challenge and will be responsible for resolving any disputes that arise.


Playing

Signing Up
The Promotion is free to enter. You can sign up anytime prior to the start of the tournament.

Selection Deadline
Brackets will be filled on March 16, 2009 and posted on-line under the "Brackets" toolbar link. Picks must be submitted by 11:45 AM ET on March 20, 2009. You may change your entry prior to the entry deadline, but only your last entry will qualify. One final entry per person, regardless of the number of unique e-mail addresses you may have. If you attempt to submit multiple entries under different names or email addresses, you will be disqualified.

Making Picks
After you sign up, you will have access to an on-line brackets page listing 63 of the 64 eligible Division 1 Men's College Basketball Tournament teams and their round one matchups. (Note: The 64th team will be determined by a play-in game. That game will not be counted in this contest. Prior to completion of that game, the 64th team will be listed as "TBD," and contestants are free to pick "TBD" in the first round if they want to submit picks before the play-in game is complete.)

Contestants must enter their projected winners of all 63 games, round by round, plus a predicted score for the Final Game (to be used as a tie breaker.) Beginning with round two, predictions for each successive round will weigh more heavily than the previous round. Exact weights are detailed in the table below. Points will be awarded by multiplying your number of correct predictions in each round by the weight assigned to that round. For example, you would receive five (5) points for five correct predictions in round one, and ten (10) points for five correct predictions in round two. You will receive an individual score for each of the six tournament rounds; and an overall score, which is the combined total of your individual round scores.

The data stored on Brother Jimmyâs computer systems shall be the final determiner of the submitted prediction provided by contestants. In the event of a discrepancy between the data stored on the Brother Jimmyâs system and the data on a contestant's computer, the Brother Jimmyâs data will govern.


Prizes
The contestants with the most overall points at the end of the tournament will win, in order of most points to 10^th most points:

Prizes are as follows:

1. Trip to Boston: Includes one night hotel room
VIP trip to Sam Adam brewery
two tickets to Red Sox game
$50 gift certificate to Brother Jimmy’s

2. 80GB IPOD
$50 gift certificate to Brother Jimmy’s

3. Magellan
$50 gift certificate

4. 2 tickets to the Yankees or Mets game + $50 gift certificate

5. 2 tickets to whichever game not chosen in 4th place plus $25 gift
certificate

6. Brother Jimmy’s $100 gift certificate

7. Brother Jimmy’s $50 gift certificate

8. Brother Jimmy’s $25 gift certificate

9. Swamp Water

10. Can of PBR

If two or more contestants tie for a prize, the tie-breaker will be the contestants' prediction of the total points scored in the Final Game. The contestant whose prediction comes closest to the actual total points scored (without exceeding the total points scored) will be deemed the winner. (For example if the total points scored in the Final Game is 150, and contestant #1 guessed 148 and contestant #2 guessed 151, then contestant #1 would be deemed the winner because their guess is closest to the actual points scored without exceeding it.) If tied contestants pick the same point total for the Final Game, the tie will be broken by comparing the contestants' number of points for the Final Four round and going back one round at a time until one contestant has more points in a round. If ties still remain, the contestant who submitted his/her picks first, as indicated on Brotherâs Jimmyâs server, will be the winner.

Limit one prize per person.Ê All prizes are to be picked up at a Brother Jimmy's NYC location.

Legal Disclaimers

Eligibility
The Promotion is open to legal residents of the 50 United States, Washington DC and Canada (excluding Florida, Puerto Rico and Quebec) 18 years of age or older at the time of entry with a valid internet e-mail address as of March 16, 2009 (if the age of a majority in a jurisdiction is different than 18, you must be of the age of majority within your jurisdiction to be eligible to receive a prize) Void in Florida, Puerto Rico, Quebec and where prohibited.

Employees, agents, successors, and assignees of Sponsor, its advertising agencies and promotional companies involved in this Promotion, as well as immediate family and household members of same, shall be ineligible to participate in the Promotion and shall be ineligible for any prize covered herein.

Construction
All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules, or the rights and obligations of any contestant and Sponsor, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with the laws of the state of Florida, without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules or provisions (whether of Florida, or any other jurisdiction) that would cause the application of the laws of any jurisdiction other than Florida. Entrants agree that any and all disputes, claims and causes of action arising out of or connected with this Promotion or any prizes awarded, shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action, exclusively in the federal or state courts of the state of Florida, and any and all claims shall be limited to actual out of pocket costs incurred, including costs associated with entering this Promotion, but in no event attorneys' fees. Under no circumstances will entrants be permitted to obtain awards for and entrant hereby waives all rights to claim punitive, incidental and consequential damages and any other damages, other than for actual out-of pocket expenses and any and all rights to have damages multiplied or otherwise increases. SOME JURSIDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

Privacy
All personal information collected in this Promotion shall be subject to Brother Jimmyâs privacy policy, located at:

http://www.brotherjimmys.com/legal.html

General Conditions
By entering, each entrant accepts and agrees to be bound by these rules and by the decision of Sponsor which shall be final and binding in all respects. Taxes, if any, are the sole responsibility of the prize winners. No substitution or transfer of prizes permitted except by Sponsor, and Sponsor reserves the right to substitute a prize for one of equal or greater value in the event that an advertised prize is unavailable.

All prize winners may be required to submit valid identification to Sponsor, and to execute an affidavit of eligibility, a liability release and a publicity release, where legally permissible, within ten (10) days following first attempted notification. Failure to comply within this time period may result in disqualification of a grand, first or second winner and the prize may be awarded to the entrant with the next highest score. If a contingent prize winner fails to comply, he/she will forfeit the prize.

Names and likenesses of Promotion winner(s) may be used by Brother Jimmyâs BBQ for promotional purposes without further compensation to the Promotion winner(s), unless prohibited by law.

All federal, state, provincial and local laws and regulations apply. Canadian winners may be required to correctly answer a mathematical skill testing question as a condition of being awarded a prize.

Sponsor, Brother Jimmyâs BBQ and any affiliated companies, subsidiaries and insurers are not responsible for any late, misdirected or incomplete entries, effects of hackers, or failure of any electronic equipment, computer transmissions and/or network connections. Sponsors, Brother Jimmyâs BBQ, and any affiliated companies, subsidiaries and insurers are not responsible for any inaccuracies in information which may be used in the Promotion, or for any technical, human or other error which may occur in the processing of the entries. Brother Jimmyâs BBQ, in its sole discretion, may disqualify any Member OR ENTRANT from participation in the use of any or all portions of this Web site, and refuse to award points or prizes, if Member OR ENTRANT engages in any conduct Brother Jimmyâs BBQ deems to be improper, unfair or otherwise adverse to the operation of the Web site or detrimental to other Members OR ENTRANTS of the Web site. Such improper conduct, includes, but is not limited to, falsifying personal information required during Member registration or prize claim, violating any term or condition stated herein, accumulating points or prizes through methods such as automated computer scripts or any other programming techniques, allowing others to use Member's OR ENTRANT personal information for the purpose of accumulating points or prizes, or intentionally trying to defraud, reverse engineer, disassemble or otherwise tamper with the computer programs on this Web site. Member OR ENTRANT agrees that Brother Jimmyâs BBQ may void any prize that Member OR ENTRANT may have won and/or require the return of any prize that Member OR ENTRANT may have won as a result of such improper conduct. Member OR ENTRANT further acknowledges that the forfeiture of prize(s) and/or return of any prize(s) shall in no way prevent Brother Jimmyâs BBQ from pursuing other avenues of recourse such as criminal or civil proceedings in connection with such conduct. In addition, Brother Jimmyâs BBQ also reserves the right at its sole discretion, to disqualify any individual who tampers with the promotion process, and to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the promotion.

Sponsor is not responsible for incorrect, inaccurate or incomplete entry information whether caused by a contestant, equipment, or technical malfunction or for any human error, technical error or malfunctions. Sponsor, Brother Jimmyâs BBQ and any affiliated companies, subsidiaries and insurers are not responsible for lost, interrupted or unavailable network server or other connections, miscommunications, failed telephone or computer or telephone transmissions or technical failure, jumbled, scrambled or misdirected transmissions, or other error of any kind whether human, mechanical or electronic. Persons found tampering with or abusing any aspect of this Promotion, as solely determined by Sponsor will be disqualified. If disqualified for any of the above abuses, Sponsor and Brother Jimmyâs reserve the right to terminate a contestant's eligibility to participate. Sponsor, Brother Jimmyâs and any affiliated companies are not responsible for any entry, which is generated by computer or software, malfunction, error or failure or is tampered with or subject to any non-authorized human intervention.

Prizes will only be awarded upon winner and entry validation. TAXES, FEES OR OTHER CHARGES ASSOCIATED WITH THE RECEIPT OR USE OF ANY PRIZE ARE THE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE WINNER.

UNCLAIMED PRIZES WILL NOT BE AWARDED. CONTINGENT PRIZES WILL NOT BE AWARDED IF THE CONDITION PRECENDENT TO THE AWARDING OF THE PRIZE IS NOT MET BY ANY ELIGIBLE CONTESTANT.

Sponsor is not responsible for typographical or other human or technical errors in the offer or administration of this contest, including but not limited to errors in advertising, the Official Rules, the selection and announcement of the winner or the distribution of the prizes.

Sponsor reserves the right to modify these rules for clarification purposes without materially affecting the terms and conditions of the contest.

This contest is not affiliated with or endorsed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the 2009 NCAA Division I Men's College Basketball Tournament or any team playing in such tournament.

This Promotion may not be used for any form of gambling.

Internet
If for any reason the Internet portion of the program is not capable of running as planned, including infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, or any other causes beyond the control of Sponsor which corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of this contest, Sponsor reserves the right at their sole discretion, to disqualify any individual who tampers with the entry process, and to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Promotion. In such event Sponsors further reserve the right to award prizes to the players with the most points, as of the termination date.

Sponsor is not responsible for any injury or damage to contestant's or any other person's computer related to or resulting from participation or downloading any materials in this Promotion.

CAUTION: ANY ATTEMPT BY A CONTESTANT TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE ANY WEB SITE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THE PROMOTION IS A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS AND SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, SPONSOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK DAMAGES FROM ANY SUCH CONTESTANT TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

In the event of a dispute, entries made by Internet will be declared made by the authorized account holder of the e-mail address submitted at time of entry. "Authorized account holder" is defined as the natural person who is assigned to an e-mail address by an Internet access provider, on line service provider or other organization (e.g., business, educational, institution, etc.) that is responsible for assigning e-mail addresses for the domain associated with the submitted e-mail address.

Any entry that is incomplete, late or does not include a validly issued User ID will be disqualified. Sponsor reserves the right to halt, modify, or suspend the Promotion at any time during the NCAA tournament due to situations beyond the control of Sponsor such as strikes, acts of God, etc.

In the event that the Promotion is challenged by any legal or regulatory authority, Sponsor reserves the right to discontinue or modify the Promotion, or to disqualify participants residing in the affected geographic areas. In such event, Sponsor shall have no liability to any players who are disqualified due to such an action.

This is a free contest.Ê While the Brother Jimmyâs staff will try to be as accurate, timely, and fair as possible in this contest, we are not responsible for any loss of prizes or other grievances due to contest administration.Ê By clicking on the above link, you agree to these terms.

Maximum liability of Brother Jimmy's in $0 per person