First, we’d like to thank everyone who participated. We’re going to continue to do more stuff like this as the site progresses, so stick around. Assorted flatware could be in your future.

Second, we’d like to thank Mario Chalmers. His big time player heroics last night buoyed Booth into 4th place (Booth picked Kansas to win it all) and single-handily prevented us from having to spend a day mailing t-shirts. How much of a Booth move is it to write an article about how you wish you could re-pick Memphis to win it, then actually have the team you originally picked win it all? What. An. Asshole.

And lastly, we’d like to congratulate Team Cool & Tough’s own, Toast, for being Chalky Chalkerson. Never before has such a cripplingly weak bracket taken home the grand prize. Enjoy your steak knives. Looks like you’re going to have to scrap those plans of becoming a vegetarian.

Here’s the final top ten if you’re interested (click to enlarge):

Special congrats to Cup-da-Ballz for being the only person we don’t know to beat Booth. Email us your address and we’ll get you that t-shirt pronto. (Proto, you’re going to have to pry your t-shirt from our cold, dead hands.)

It’s just about here, the climax we’ve all been waiting for. Come Tuesday morning someone’s going home with a sweet set of steak knives!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner and Burnt Toast are battling for first, but things are still wide open going into the Final Four. And depending on how whether Booth goes on a run or shits the bed, he may be spending a significant amount of time hitchhiking around the US, delivering t-shirts. We do not pay for postage.

Here are the standings going into the Final Four. Good luck to all!

(click to enlarge)

We’re two rounds into NextRound’s 1st Annual Tournament Challenge: Booth v. All, and it’s a wide open competition that will definitely come down to the Final Four. The battle for t-shirts and steak knives has been intense. Here’s a breakdown of the top 20 brackets:

(click to enlarge)

Maske leads by a narrow margin and isn’t sure he wants to win it all seeing that the sweet set of steak knives are already in his possession and that would kind of defeat the purpose of the competition. Just so everyone’s aware of what he’s rooting against, Maske’s Final Four is UCLA, Louisville, Kansas, and Memphis, with UCLA taking down Kansas in the final.

Booth is tied for 7th and could still make a run if Kansas and Tennessee keep advancing. If not, NextRound HQ is preparing for a long day of drinking whiskey and mailing t-shirts in early April. Booth’s full bracket is pictured after the jump. Feel free to mock it mercilessly while poking holes in his remaining teams.

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As we outlined on Monday, and Wednesday, and on the sidebar, the 1st Annual NextRound Tournament Challenge: Booth v. All officially begins at first tip today. There’s still a chance to win a NextRound t-shirt for beating Booth and a sweet set of steak knives for winning the whole thing.

You’ve got until noon. Just follow the instructions under “Sports Picks” on the right sidebar. What’s the problem? Don’t think you can beat this dude?

Do you like the NCAA tournament? Do you like filling out brackets? Do you think Booth sucks? Do you like beer and t-shirts? Could you use a sweet set of steak knives?

If you answered at least two out of five “yes”, then you’ve come to the right place. Sure, you could randomly google the phrase “cleveland steamer” and probably find five sites holding a NCAA bracket challenge, but what are those sites offering for prizes? So far we’ve seen other sites awarding cash prizes and Nintendo Wiis, but we’ve yet to find another site offering NextRound t-shirts, a set of steak knives, and the personal satisfaction of kicking a dude named Booth when he’s already down.

This is how the first annual tournament challenge will go:

• We’ll mail anyone who beats Booth in overall points a NextRound t-shirt.
• The overall winner wins a sweet set of steak knives.
• And scoring goes like this:

First Round 1 point
Second Round 2 points
Third Round 4 points
Fourth Round 8 points
Semis 16 points
Championship 32 points
Maximum Possible: 192 points

Here’s how to sign up:

• Click here to access Yahoo Sports.
• Click “Join Group”.
• Login to Yahoo (you have to have a Yahoo ID to participate, which is kind of pain in the ass, we know).
• Enter Group ID “84026″ and password “nextround”.
• Give your bracket a name and pick the winners.

Booth’s, Maske’s, and the rest of Team Cool & Tough’s brackets will be up shortly. We’ll be updating regularly and will keep an update in the right sidebar under “sports picks”.

Please note: All contestants need to realize how much Booth really wants to win this set of steak knives. He’s been tearing flank steak apart with his teeth for too long. After the jump is Boothy’s bracket from last year. He’s set his goal for this year at 192 total points.

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