Log in to WRAL.com with one click using your favorite social network:
OR
Log in using your WRAL.com account:



Wrong email/password combination.

Forgot password?

Register with WRAL.com using your favorite social network:
OR
Register for a WRAL.com account using our web form.

Login Options

3:39 p.m. • 5-16-12

Weather Forecast for Raleigh

  • Thu: Light Rain.
    • Hi: 80° F
  • Fri: Partly Cloudy.
    • Hi: 78° F
  • Sat: Partly Cloudy.
    • Hi: 78° F

Other Locations

> 7 Day Forecast

Doppler Image

Marketplace Links

Social Links

Main Menu

Local Programmer Hopes To Cut Down On Office Pool Madness


e-mail print friendly

Many people will be be glued to the NCAA basketball tournament when it begins later in the week.

Many will spend time at work practicing "bracketology," filling out their brackets for the office pool - a March tradition in many places.

So, a Triangle man created a company that can save you time and keep you on the boss's good side. He has turned his love for college hoops into a lucrative side business.

Though March Madness is inspiring bracket fever among college basketball fans, it can take as long to score a bracket as it does to play a game. If programmer Chris Hehman has his way, people will never fill out a bracket by hand again.

"We had a bunch of fanatic fans, and we got tired of scoring by hand," Hehman said. "So we said, maybe we can put this on the web and make some money."

It's working.

Hehman wrote software that keeps track and scores a person's brackets for them. Customers filled out 4,000 brackets last year, and Hehman hopes to hit 5,000 this month.

Hehman was inspired by his former colleagues at Nortel, who didn't get much done around the office at tournament time.

"I was spending longer and longer each Monday going through the games and checking them off," he said.

Pick65.com can also make educated guesses for you. It chooses upsets based on your tolerance for risk. And the best-result scenario shows how your bracket stacks up against the competition.

Hehman will use a quick pick for his own bracket. He's so busy with his software, he doesn't have much time to watch basketball.

It costs $10 to set up 100 brackets at pick65.com You won't hit the jackpot by playing, though. Winners get T-shirts instead of cash.


0 Comments


WRAL.com welcomes your comments on this story. All comments are moderated prior to publication based on our posting guidelines. Please review them prior to posting and if your message is not approved.

View Comments 0 COMMENTS

This story is closed for comments.

View Comments 0 COMMENTS
PRESIDENT PRIMARY (R)
*Mitt Romney66%
Ron Paul11%
Rick Santorum10%
Newt Gingrich8%
No Preference5%
(Precincts: 100% reporting)
GOVERNOR PRIMARY (D)
*Walter Dalton46%
Bob Etheridge38%
Bill Faison6%
Gardenia Henley5%
Gary Dunn3%
Bruce Blackmon2%
(Precincts: 100% reporting)
GOVERNOR PRIMARY (R)
*Pat McCrory83%
Paul Wright5%
Scott Jones3%
Jim Mahan3%
Jim Harney3%
Charles Moss2%
(Precincts: 100% reporting)
MARRIAGE AMENDMENT
*For61%
Against39%
(Precincts: 100% reporting)
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR PRIMARY (D)
*Linda Coleman56%
Eric Mansfield44%
(Precincts: 100% reporting)
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR PRIMARY (R)
Dan Forest33%
Tony Gurley25%
Dale Folwell24%
Grey Mills15%
Arthur Rich3%
(Precincts: 100% reporting)
US HOUSE DIST 13 PRIMARY (R)
*George Holding44%
Paul Coble34%
Bill Randall22%
(Precincts: 100% reporting)
(i) = incumbent      *=Winner
Interactive US election results map 317x60
Report It