WE HAVE A BRACKET!

The field is set! CB’s first ever Top Pun Tournament tips today. Four quadrants, 5 rounds, and 32 of the punniest tees our designers could come up with all come down to one winner on April 5th. Buckle up, there’s gonna be a lot of blood, sweat, and cringing over the next two weeks.

Before we announce the regions and schedule, here’s a little rules refresher:

• Entries are paired up bracket style in a 5 round tournament.
• Winners are determined via @cottonbureau twitter poll voting. So share our Twitter Moments for each round and get your friends and family to do the same.
• Orders = 3 votes each FOR ONLY THE CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND.

Of course we should remind you of what you’re all playing for. Pride. Jk… you’re also playing for a laser engraved Leather Head basketball. Second place will receive a copy of Basketball (and Other Things) by Shea Serrano. And don’t forget that you’ll take home cold hard cash for every sale you make after 25—so don’t be afraid use the Top Pun Tourney for some promo mo regardless of your standing.

REGIONS

The road to the finals starts right here. There’s no easy matchups when it comes to the Top Pun Tournament, but escape the first round and you may just make a Cinderella run. So let’s get right to the bracket.

To find your matchup (and see the road ahead if you dare) head over to our Top Pun Tournament homepage.

SCHEDULE

The polls opened today for round 1 of the Rickles and Rivers regions. If your tee is in either of those quadrants, you should already be collecting votes. It’s as easy as sharing today’s Twitter Moment. You have until midnight Sunday night to rack up as many as possible.

https://twitter.com/cottonbureau/status/976918805145321472

Each round will start the same way, so keep an eye on @cottonbureau if you’re lucky enough to survive and advance.

The second half of round 1 starts on Tuesday and ends Thursday night at midnight ET. That’s you, Youngman and Hedberg entries (we don’t need to mention the whole Twitter moment thing again, right?). Remaining rounds will take place over the second week of the tournament:

• Round 2: Friday, March 30 — Monday, April 2
• Round 3: Tuesday, April 3
• Round 4: Wednesday, April 4
• Finals: Thursday, April 5

May the best pun win!

We know…this is the year you’re gonna win your office tournament pool. We totally believe you. But just in case March 2018 ends up like every other March, maybe jump in Cotton Bureau’s inaugural Top Pun Tournament. It’s just like the real thing…you can pull an upset over a big name, make a Cinderella run to the championship, and get paid (see… it really is just like college hoops)! Here’s how it works…

If you follow us on Twitter, you know we can’t resist a good pun, and now it’s your turn. Make it about your favorite animal, place, movie, food, or whatever other goofy subject you can think of. Just make sure you send it in before next Tuesday, March 20, because any submissions after that will not be considered for the bracket.

Entries will be pitted against each other one round at a time in a fight to the finish starting with Round 1 on Thursday, March 22. Winners will be determined via @cottonbureau Twitter polls. Whichever tee has the most votes in its matchup wins. Survive and advance. Oh and we should mention: every order will count as three (3!) votes during the championship round — so don’t be afraid to butter up the genius who picked Lipscomb to go to the Final Four.

After that, we’ll whittle the field down to one final design that will be etched in tournament history. Winner gets a Luther Vandross poster and DVD of Charles Barkley’s best commercials. Okay not really, but what you will win is a very handsome Leather Head basketball, laser-engraved with your name and champion status (a $220 value, and btw, Leather Head’s logo was hand-lettered by our pal and yours, Jon Contino). Runner-up receives the fantastic book Basketball (and Other Things) by Shea Serrano (illustrated by another friend of Cotton Bureau, Arturo Torres).

So who’s ready to draw up a wordplay for the win? Submit your design today!