“We got the idea just after the NCAA March Madness had finished,” he said. “We were sitting at an opening day Tigers game just joking around when I thought, ‘What if we ranked all the girls at Michigan?’”
Lekach, a recent graduate of the University of Michigan Business School, along with Shah, a computer engineering graduate, turned the original idea into a small enterprise.
The venture, which has since surfaced at Penn (PenPreakness), Michigan State (MSU Madness), and most recently, Georgetown (HoyaHysteria, which began its voting yesterday) in various customized forms.
Currently, college brackets like MichiganMadness and CrimsonChaos are administered under one umbrella organization—The Madness Group. Lekach and Shah said they expect similar programs to surface at at least 64 schools by next spring.
“The response has been overwhelmingly positive,” Lekach said. “We’re strongly considering sponsors and even tentative projects to make this into a reality TV series.”
Though most at Harvard said they have been amused and entertained by the idea of CrimsonChaos, responses to the candidate pool have been mixed.
“I think it sucks that all [the competitors] belong to two final clubs,” said Hannah Trierweiler ’03. “At least broaden it to include other final clubs.”
Sophia C. Macris ’03 also said she was disappointed with the selection. “They got the seeding all wrong,” she complained. “A lot of attractive guys got overlooked.”
“To critics that say some are left out, we would say of course everyone can’t be included,” Lekach’s Harvard contact said. “We did the best we could to include a wide variety people that most of the campus would know of. We’re confident that people who weren’t included won’t have any hard feelings.”
The men of the senior class have also involved themselves as competitors—and as voters.
“I bet it’s mostly guys voting,” rower Michael J. Skey ’03 guessed. “The guys on the [men’s crew] team find it funny to vote for you...or even against you.”
“I can’t deny that I’ve put in a few votes,” Skey added.
Curran D. Hendry ’03-’04 and Taylor G. Buckley ’03, roommates since freshman year, were pitted against each other in the second round.
“This hasn’t ruined our friendship, it has only made it hotter,” said Hendry, who edged out Buckley in a come-from-behind victory to advance to the Sweet Sixteen round yesterday.
“Where I come from, Canada, it’s dark for months at a time, so when I first came here all I really knew how to do was be pale and ice fish,” Hendry said. “But when I first met Curran he taught me how to unleash my inner bronzed Adonis, and I taught him how to hunt polar bears with a hockey stick. So even though I lost, I believe that everyone here is a winner.”