STAFF REPORT

Are you one of those college basketball fans who fills out online brackets and joins in office pools whenever the NCAA March Madness© rolls around.

Are you hoping to win a few bucks?

How about a chance to win 100 million bucks?

While R.J. Bell of Pregame.com says the odds of anyone picking a perfect bracket is about 10 quintillion — a 10 followed by 18 zeroes — to 1, a perfect bracket in L’Observateur’s “The Game of the Century” will bring a $100 million grand prize.

Developed by Dell Sports and with major prizes sponsored by La-Z-Boy, “The Game of the Century” is the largest college basketball bracket challenge to-date.

“For the college basketball fan, this offers an opportunity to compete and measure your abilities to pick winners against other fans,” explained L’Observateur Publisher John H. Walker. “You can pick game-by-game, do a quick pick like in the lottery or do auto complete, where you pick the national champion and leave the rest to chance.”

While Selection Sunday is not until March 15, fans can fill out there registration and entry form now, Walker added.

“Despite LSU’s loss to Vandy on Wednesday, the Tigers look to have a good seed and we think there will be a great deal of interest in the online game,” Walker said, adding that the newspaper will once again do a contest in the print edition.

“We think they will complement one another,” he said.

Walker said features unique to the game include:

— Quick Pick: Just like a lottery ticket, players can instantly “Quick Pick” their own bracket

— Risk Tolerance Indicator: Shows how risky a players selections are while they fill out a bracket

— Auto Complete: For the players who choose to select a winner and leave the rest to chance

— Best Results: Displays the teams you need to win and your best chance finish after Round 2

— What-If Scenario: Allows players to instantly see the standings based on hypothetical results

Fans can register and view a demo of the contest at http://lobservateur.pickmanager.com/marchbrackets/register.