Brackets for the 2020 March Mammal Madness Tournament

The 2020 Crow’s Path MMM Contest

Once again, Crow’s Path is hosting a March Mammal Madness Contest. Pick the top bracket and win a shirt and sticker. Bonus prize: if you’re the winner and a patron, you’ll get a beautiful, hand-carved spoon. Details on the tournament and the contest can be found below.

Contest Details

The Crow’s Path contest is open to anyone and everyone, so tell your friends, family, neighbors, students, and any other mammal you know who has opposable thumbs. Anyone who submits a bracket by 5pm on March 9 will be eligible for the contest. After the championship match on April 1, I’ll score all the brackets and announce the winner by April 6. You can learn more about the tournament at Katie Hinde’s blog.

  • February 28: Brackets are released
  • Midnight, March 8: Deadline to submit your bracket to be officially entered in the contest. You can enter a bracket by filling out and email a bracket to me or using the online form
  • March 9: Tournament begins with the wildcard match
  • March 9 – April 1: Follow the tournament on Twitter and cheer on your favorite contestants
  • March 31: Last chance to sign up as a patron for a chance to win a hand-carved spoon
  • April 1: Championship match
  • April 6: Winners announced

How to submit a bracket

There are 3 ways to fill out the bracket. Before you do, check out the brackets and choose which animals you think are going all the way. You can see the brackets here. Then, you’ll need to submit your bracket in one of the following ways

  1. Email: Fill out the bracket and take a photo and email it to me: teage@crowspath.org
  2. Mail: Print and fill out the bracket and mail it to 56 Latham Ct, Burlington, VT 05401
  3. Online form: Use the online bracket form to make your picks. On the first page of the form you’ll need to enter the following info. *** Be sure to enter “Crow’s Path” for the school since thousands of other participants use the form!! I’ve put my info in parentheses, info in bold should be the same for you. Once you’re done, shoot me an email to let me know you’re in!
    1. Student initials: (Teage O’Connor)
    2. Town (Burlington),
    3. School Name (Crow’s Path)
    4. Class (None)
    5. Period (None)
    6. Teacher Initials (TO)

About the MMM Tournament

From the official MMM website: “Inspired by (but in no way affiliated with or representing) the NCAA College Basketball March Madness Championship Tournament, March Mammal Madness is an annual tournament of *simulated* combat competition among mammals. Scientific literature is cited to substantiate likely outcomes as a probabilistic function of the two species’ attributes within the battle environment. Attributes considered in calculating battle outcome include temperament, weaponry, armor, body mass, running speed, fight style, physiology, and motivation.

“Through the scientific information embedded in the bout descriptions, participants are educated about inter-species interactions, the importance of ecological context, how natural selection has shaped adaptations, and conservation management of endangered species.”

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