The Pallimed Basketball Insanity in the Third (and Fourth) Month of the Year!

Last fall we had quite a fun time with the World Series of Blogs with Geripal (SF) facing off against Pallimed (KC). So with the college basketball tournament coming to the grand conclusion this weekend, we thought we would highlight some of the other rivalries that have cropped up amongst our palliative care colleagues.

Similar to the friendly political wagers among mayors and university presidents, I rang up a few colleagues to see if they were willing to offer small tokens of their local finest to each other. Surprisingly, when I suggested the losing side wear the other teams color to work, no one decided to take up that wager.

The first head to head competition is between John Mulder of the Michigan State University affiliated palliative care fellowship program in Grand Rapids, MI and James Tulsky and Arif Kamal from the Duke Center for Palliative Care. While MSU is a 7th seed, John has no doubt in the success of his team:

Mulder: If, by some miracle, MSU should happen to lose, I will have an assortment of offerings from our fair state. We may lose an occasional sporting event, but Grand Rapids remains Beer City, USA. The "Pure Michigan" basket will contain a selection of premium Michigan craft beers, including Bell's Oberon, the Short's Huma Lupa Licious, and Founder's KBS, a limited release which annually hits most of the "best beers in the world" list. We'll also include Vandermill Hard Cider, a bottle of exceptional Chateau Grand Traverse Riesling, a bottle of Cherry Whiskey from the Grand Traverse Distillery. In addition, I would offer up a jar of blueberry preserves, a signed photograph of a stunning Lake Michigan sunset, and an MSU stylish tee shirt will round out the stash. Please note that I've picked all of the high quality things that I enjoy, as I fully expect to retain possession of the goods. Good luck, y'all!

Tulsky and Kamal from Duke have a counter offer: A selection of specialty items and memorabilia from just a few of the extraordinary Durham spots highlighted in repeated New York Times travel reviews (here and here) of Durham, NC. (Can anyone imaginge spending 36 hours of vacation in East Lansing?)  Not to be outdone by the other states whiskeys and bourbons, the package (in the heavily unlikely event that MSU should prevail) would include Barrister and Brewers Mystic Bourbon Liqueur. The winner will also receive Durham’s famous Q shack barbecue sauce, a Durham Bulls hat and a book on leadership by Coach K.

The other key match-up sees Jim Cleary from the University of Wisconsin -Madison Palliative Care program face-off against Todd Cote head of the Hospice of the Bluegrass Palliative Medicine Fellowship program (sponsored by the University of Kentucky College of Medicine).

Cleary offers a fine selection of Wisconsin beer and cheese, maybe a tweet from Aaron Rodgers, and a batch of Wisconsin's award winning Kinnickinnic Whiskey.

Cote counters with a friendly wager consisting of some of Kentucky’s finest Bourbons including Basil Hayden’s, Woodford Reserve and Lexington’s own, Town Branch. Since he can’t wager a thoroughbred racing horse he will wager a supply of box seat tickets to The Clubhouse during the Keeneland Horse Races. Suit and tie required!

The first two games are this Saturday April 4th.  The winners will go on to meet in the championship game on Monday April 6th where the same items will be up for grabs. The winners will be very lucky regardless of who wins (or loses). These all sound fantastic. If you are interested in supporting your team of choice you could also consider donating to any of these four great programs. Might be a better use of your money then making a bet.