The Smooth 16 / Third Round - Schedule - 2014 May Mayhem Tournament of Champions

Historically, the later rounds of the May Mayhem Tournament of Champions has had advancement based upon one's success in trivia.  However, due to the difficulty in finding challenging trivia questions, and the simple fact that it gives the higher-seed the ultimate advantage (via holding the tie-breaker), I am going to switch things up this year.

Rather than being trivia-based, I will instead ask a fill-in-the-blank(s) question, and advance the player with the better response.  This way, there still is the element of participation being necessary, BUT it levels the playing field because there is no one "right" answer, thus, there is no research or technological assist that can be utilized to ensure victory.

There won't be any rules on response requirements (in terms of content) and I'll select the response that I think is the best (and justify my decision, of course) and advance that player to the Enduring 8 round of the Tournament.  Think of it like a game of Cards Against Humanity, in a sense.


Make sense?

That said, the schedule for the Smooth 16 round of the 2014 May Mayhem Tournament of Champions is:

Tuesday, May 20:

5) John Herboth  vs.  16) Stephen Cannon -- Portland Men's Semi-Finals
6) Janelle Johnson  vs.  10) Cadence Powers -- World Women's Semi-Finals

Wednesday, May 21:

1) Kristen Dutra  vs.  13) Alisha Finke --  Portland Women's Semi-Finals
7) Boone "Diggity" Langston  vs.  11) John Studzic Dudzic -- World Men's Semi-Finals

Thursday, May 22:

2) Chris Maui Taketa  vs.  3) Andrew BDub Fuchs  -- Portland Men's Semi-Finals
1) Jennifer Mattson  vs.  13) Emily Wizola  -- World Women's Semi-Finals

Friday, May 23:

2) Tara Walsh  vs.  3) Kristin Johnson  -- Portland Women's Semi-Finals
1) Aneel Arya  vs.  13) Andrew Salzman  -- World Men's Semi-Finals


And, now, the topic for the Smooth 16 round of the 2014 May Mayhem Tournament of Champions:

"_______ : The Most Annoying Thing(s) Ever."

Fill in the blank and I'll advance the winner to the Enduring 8 round of the Tournament.... and maybe rant on them, if they are something that irritates me a lot. Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy. 

You can submit your response to me in any fashion you feel -- email, Facebook post/message, text (if you have my number) -- but, in order to keep things fair, ALL responses, regardless of day of match, must be submitted by Tuesday, May 20th, at 6pm Pacific (9pm Eastern), when the Smooth 16 round officially starts.

Why? Because, I believe, it gives an advantage to the later-days of the round if they get to see what the subsequent responses were before them.  This way, everyone has their submissions in before the round starts, and, thus, no one is at an advantage or disadvantage based upon when their match is scheduled.

There you have it.  If you have any questions, please let me know and I will address them as I receive them.  Thanks,

-Ryan.
Commissioner
May Mayhem Tournament of Champions