Are you one of those people who declares today and Friday your favorite day of the year and skips class or calls out sick from work to watch the full opening two days of the NCAA Tournament? Did you once go to your younger sibling’s basketball game only to play your Game Boy the whole time without watching a single minute of action? Regardless of your basketball knowledge, we want you.

Consider this an open invitation to join Onward State’s March Madness pool where you will compete against staff writers and hopefully a large portion of the Penn State community. To join, simply follow a few easy steps:

1. Create a Yahoo! ID if you do not already have one.
2. Head on over to the Yahoo! Tourney Pick ‘Em page.
3. Click on “Join a Group” followed by “Accept an Invitation to Join a Group”
4. The ID number to join is 189060 and the Password is “onward madness”
5. Fill out your bracket before noon today.

Upon signing up, people will be asked to create a name for their bracket — one per person. In order to easily keep track of scoring and distribute prizes, please use your actual name along with your Twitter handle (if you have one).

Now, what exactly are you playing for?

• 1st place — An Onward State T-shirt and a congratulatory Twitter shoutout from the most followed college media outlet in the world that is sure to bring you more followers.
• 2nd and 3rd place — Onward State cups that you can fill with a large quantity of your favorite beverage.

Whether you’re a guru who does a ton of research and knows who Harvard’s second leading scorer is or someone who takes 16-seed North Carolina A&T over 1-seed Louisville because your second cousin went there, all are welcome to play!

Happy brackets!