You've still got time to enter Chicagoist's Tournament Challenge. Fill out your bracket and compete against Chicagoist staff and readers for the chance to celebrate your own shining moment. We've got almost 60 entries already, and in past years we've had over 100 compete. There is a prize for the winner! more ›

March Madness is here! The conference tournaments concluded yesterday and now the NCAA Tournament's field of 68 (yes, 68) is set. So it's time once again for Chicagoist's Tournament Challenge. Fill out your bracket and compete against Chicagoist staff and readers for the chance to celebrate your own shining moment. But winning's not easy. The past couple of years, we've had over 100 entries in our pool, and last year's winner, K. Oser, finished in the 99.9th percentile of all ESPN Tournament Challenge entries. Our staff experts didn't do quite so well. I finished 35th while former editor-in-chief Marcus Gilmer placed 51st. more ›

If you're anything like us, you've filled out at least a half dozen brackets since NCAA selection committee set the field of 65 for this year's tournament as you try to find just the right mix of sure things and upsets to win bragging rights over colleagues and amaze your friends. more ›

With the NCAA Tournament's brackets announced on Sunday evening to set the field of 65, it's time to make your picks for the sixth annual Chicagoist Tournament Challenge! Think you know more about college basketball than Chicagoist's writers and fellow readers? Prove it! Don't know that much about college basketball? So, what... it's usually that one who picked teams based on their mascots that wins anyway! more ›

If you're anything like Chicagoist, you spent Sunday evening poring over the brackets for the NCAA Basketball Tournament. And if you're anything like Chicagoist, you'll repeat this ritual daily until your picks must be turned in for your office pool later this week. Sixty-five teams will fight for a trip to the Final Four. All have hopes and dreams, but only four teams will make it to Atlanta, and only one team will cut down... more ›

The NCAA Tournament never turns out like we think it will, and this year's tournament had even more unepected twist and turns than a typical year. From the numerous upsets, to all the top seeds missing the Final Four, to George Mason making the Final Four, to the large margins of victory in the the Final Four and Championship games. Last night, Florida defeated UCLA 73-57 to claim the NCAA basketball title. With the conclusion... more ›

Tomorrow is the bid day for college basketball fans, and even many who don't necessarily follow the sport the rest of the season. The NCAA Tournament kicks off with the first 16 games, running from late morning to nearly midnight. With those 12 hours of non-stop basketball overlapping a good part of the workday, it comes as little surprise that the tourament impacts workplace productivity. Supposedly $3.8 billion in lost as a result of March... more ›

The winter sports doldrums from which Chicagoist has suffered since the Super Bowl are almost over. Sunday's announcement of the NCAA Tournament field kick off the beginning of the new sports season, as college basketball leads us into baseball, which leads us back into football. Illinois is represented by three teams in the field of 65. Southern Illinois made the field as an 11th seed after winning the Missouri Valley Conference. Bradley is a... more ›