Madness Amid the Malaise: Recapping a Rock Tournament, Commencing a Reel One

These are odd times. Certainly the oddest that I lived through. I mean, I was living in Los Angeles during the riots of 1992 and stayed in my apartment for a couple days, but this has obviously been longer.

And worldwide.

A blank version of the original Rock Madness 2020 tournament;
click here for a large version you can right-click and save

While nothing I'm about to say should be construed as a complaint--I believe we should all relax and stay put in our homes until doctors, scientists, epidemiologists and trusted leaders tell us to resume normal activity once EVERYONE is safe from risk--as someone who in many ways relies on the arts, sports and live events for companionship, I certainly miss theater and concerts and baseball and the NCAA tournament and so much more.

And, of course, just seeing friends and relatives face-to-face.

But I've been making enjoyable use of Facebook, not just to interact with friends and family--I still do that more so directly--but to maintain daily features other seem to enjoy.

I did just last week cease updating my 6word Portraits blog after 3 full years of describing esteemed folks "sixinctly" on the birthday of a given legend--and then sharing it to Facebook, where I and others would run through additional daily birthdays--but I've taken to culling five photos a day from my vast archives of pictures taken, which I share to Facebook as Random Access Memories.

And to somewhat cheekily replace the NCAA Basketball Tournament--a.k.a. March Madness--I created a tournament I dubbed Rock Madness.

I selected 64 rock artists of various eras, including big name legends and some personal favorites--for a sensibility akin to smaller schools making the NCAA Tourney--and invited my Facebook friends to vote on matchups in order to advance the bands through the bracket.

I got a bunch of great feedback as about 40+ different people participated, with each "game" gathering between 15-25 votes. And others told me it was great fun to watch, even if they didn't "play."

Although I was tempted to spread it around more publicly than to just my 356 Facebook friends, I honestly didn't want to tally up hundreds of votes and enjoyed seeing the preferences of actual friends (about 90% of my Facebook connections are people I've known in real life).

As you can see at top, The Beatles won, beating The Rolling Stones in the title game.

Now, after gathering "nominations" from friends--rather than just my own whims--I'm running a Movie version I've dubbed Reel Madness.

Four "Play-in Games" were held last night--with even more response than for Rock Madness--and Round 1 matchups in the A Regional are taking place today.

A blank bracket is below; likely at the conclusion I'll add the completed one.

I truly hope everyone is doing OK in these trying times, but with a bit of trying, I've found some fun ways to waste time.

And not just mine.