I have to admit... I love this idea. Over the next six months, readers of Bakersfield Life magazine in the Bakersfield Californian will vote tournament style to determine the Greatest Thing About Bakersfield.
None of the first round choices were that hard... it was the ones after that which were tough.
Okay, fill out the bracket and decide... what is your final four? Email me at bmichaels@977thebreeze.com.
The way it worked out for me was this... (Bakersfield is) Close To Everything, Buck Owens, the Fox Theater and Relay For Life. I wish some other choices had been in the Fox Theater bracket because I was forced to pick that one (barely) over Brews In The Village (which for people who know me, will say is a baffling choice and I am really reconsidering right now).
Here are the original 32 choices you need to make...
BRACKET ONE:
1) Starbucks vs. Local Bands
2) The Park at River Walk vs. Festival of Beers
3) Mexicali vs. Casey Mears
4) Marketplace vs. Kern County Museum
5) Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace vs. Bill Lee’s Bamboo Chopsticks
6) The Weather vs. Lloyd Lindsay Young
7) CSU Bakersfield vs. Rosemary’s
8) Close to everything vs. Emporium Western Store
BRACKET TWO:
1) Wool Growers vs. Fishlips
2) Local golf vs. Downtown nightlife
3) CSUB Basketball vs. Hart Park
4) Kern County Fair vs. Zingo's
5) Buck Owens vs. Father Garces
6) Kern River vs. Hodel's
7) Bakersfield Museum of Art vs. Sequoia Sandwich Co.
8) Rabobank Arena vs. Seven Oaks
BRACKET THREE:
1) Dewars vs, Downtown Street Fairs
2) Meadows Field vs. Jake's Tex Mex
3) Petroleum Club vs. BC Football
4) Harvey Hall vs. Lake Ming
5) Smith's Bakery vs. CALM
6) Korn vs. Trout's
7) Northwest Promenade vs. Stars Theater
8) Relav For Life vs. The Bakersfield Sound
BRACKET FOUR:
1) Luigi’s vs. Cruisin’ 99 Car Show
2) Brews In The Village vs. Arts District
3) Bakersfield Sign vs. Chester Avenue
4) Kevin Harvick vs. Jim Scott
5) Condors Hockey vs. Beale Library
6) Valley Plaza vs. Merle Haggard
7) Trader Joe's vs. John's Burgers
8) Fox Theater vs. Oildale
From there, in each bracket, you keep pairing your winners against each other. The winner of #1 vs. the winner of #2. Then if the winner of #1 wins, and say the winner of #3 wins (against winner of #4)... you pick between those two until you have one winner left per bracket.
Good luck... some decisions were hard! If you need any of the 64 choices explained, click here.
MORE KISSABLE?
A recent poll from online dating website Match.com found that 77% of Americans think that BARACK OBAMA would be a better kisser than JOHN MCCAIN... no matter what their political leanings were.
WHO ARE THE WORST DRIVERS?
"Auto Trader" magazine recently asked its readers which cars they think are driven by the WORST drivers. Here are the top FIVE responses:
#5.) Porsche
#4.) Land Rover
#3.) Mercedes Benz
#2.) Subaru
#1.) BMW
