Last year, the Mid-Majority’s Kyle Whelliston ran an As-You-Go Bracket Contest, encouraging contestants to creatively fill out their NCAA Tournament brackets with annotated real results — not in advance with predictions — because Kyle believes that everyone’s obsessive attention to “their bracket” saps some of the fun out of March Madness, due in part to “Bracket Whining Syndrome (BWS).”

Having run NCAA pools for 16 straight years, I disagree with Kyle’s ideology and philosophy on that point (though I acknowledge the existence of BWS, but believe it can be controlled through self-discipline and proper prioritization — don’t root against the #15 seed just because you “picked” the #2, people!). However, although I was ineligible to enter the AYG Bracket Contest (because of my pools), I could definitely see the appeal of the creative, colorful, annotated As-You-Go brackets. So this year, I decided to create an As-You-Go Bracket of my own, and make it giant, and give it a live webcam:

It’ll get more legible as the tournament goes on, and the team names get bigger in later rounds. :)

NOTE: in terms of which teams I colorfully celebrate, I won’t be following strict Mid-Majority rules. For instance, I’m a Notre Dame alum (law school), so I’ll be rooting for them. Also USC, my undergrad alma mater; Gonzaga, a TMM “exception,” the team that made me a mid-major fan in the first place, back in ‘99; and one or two other above-the-Red-Line teams, e.g., BYU and The Jimmer. So, while I’ll generally celebrate Red Line Upsets and root for underdogs, I will also be cheering for a handful of outcomes that are neutral or even averse to TMM interests. (Sorry, VCU and Akron fans! I’ll root for your teams in later rounds if you beat my alma maters, honest!)

In addition to the webcam view, you may also want to check my @brendanloy TwitPic account, as I’ll occasionally be posting (higher-resolution) photos there. In fact, here are my ten most recent TwitPic photos (not all necessarily of the bracket). Click the thumbnail for a larger view:

Oh, and if the live webcam above isn’t currently working, you should be able to see the most recently uploaded static image (via FTP) below: