It’s our third season of running the Bracket Nonsense pool and we’re hoping to see every single one of our Twitter followers in this year’s contest. Here’s the relevant sign-up information.
Name: RTC 2011 Bracket Nonsense
Group ID#: 65846 (there is no password)
We always try to tie in our prizes to the location of the Final Four — you certainly recall that two years ago in Detroit we offered an American-made jalopy, and last year in Indianapolis the prize was a Hickory High letter jacket (word to Howard Hochman) — but other than oil, it’s not so easy to come up with a basketball-oriented prize associated with the great city of Houston, Texas. So we got creative and decided to honor the venue by harking back to one of the more creative nicknames for a team that the sport has ever seen.
The two best things we can remember that Houston ever gave the collegiate game was Elvin Hayes knocking out #1 UCLA at the Astrodome back in ’68, and a little hoops fraternity known as Phi Slama Jama in the early 80s. If you’re too young to remember the Hellenic Hoops organization, let us just begin by throwing two names at you: Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. For those of you scoring at home, they are two of the NBA’s greatest fifty players of all-time, a pair of Olympic gold medalists and NBA champions for the hometown Rockets. From 1982-84, the center and forward also starred collegiately for the Houston Cougars, going to three straight Final Fours and helping to popularize the sport as a aerial showcase for some of the world’s greatest young athletes. For the young’ins who may not remember how good those two were, imagine if Kevin Durant and Dwight Howard both played for Texas. For three years. Still don’t believe us? Check out this video:
Even though Olajuwon and Drexler never won the ultimate prize (NC State and Valvano got in the way in ’83), their impact on the game is still felt today in the fast-breaking, high-flying style of play favored by many teams. When Cougar basketball was on television, it was appointment viewing. With that in mind, we’ve decided to honor one of the greatest college basketball teams of all-time (and definitely one of the coolest) with a first and second prize associated with that team.
- First Prize: an Adidas Authentics University of Houston Clyde Drexler jersey
- Second Prize: a Phi Slama Jama T-shirt
Get your picks in as soon as possible. You don’t want to miss an opportunity to sport one of these two prizes around your hood.