Any sports fan, or even many people who aren't, are inclined every year to give it their best shot and hope that they defy the 1 in 9.2 quintillion odds set against them. So, you're saying there's a chance... right? That chance is being put to test via a "bet" from Warren Buffet and his firm, Berkshire Hathaway. With any perfect bracket being rewarded with a billion dollars (yes, with a B), or the top 20 brackets being worth $100,000.
Let's start by throwing that billion out the window. According to David Sarno of slate.com, "If all 317 million people in the U.S. filled out a bracket... you could run the contest for 290 million years, and there'd still be a 99 percent chance that no one had ever won.
So basically, you won't win. It's impossible. With that being said, Sarno is arguing that the challenge is simply a publicity stunt by Berkshire Hathaway. John Diver, a director for ESPN fantasy, which holds it's own annual tournament challenge, told CNN that "after 13 years of offering NCAA bracket contests, no one has ever come close to a perfect bracket... [out of] 30 million entries." He went on to say that, "only once in the last seven years has anyone gotten the first round perfect."
Why wouldn't people give it a shot? It's as simple as filling out a form online. There's no problem with filling out bracket's either, but the fact that a billion dollars has been offered and is being entertained seems a bit misleading. Putting such a ludicrous amount of money in reward for a task that is impossible is a bit cruel to the American public. All of the sudden, since that figure has been associated with the tournament, everybody feels like they can in fact guess the perfect bracket. Of course they do! This is America, the land of opportunity (the challenge is only offered to United States citizens... sorry Canada). What a great way to begin the pursuit of your dreams, if it was possible.
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