Competition's fierce in Oscar pools

03/22/2001

By Maryln Schwartz / The Dallas Morning News

The big guessing game these days is who is going to win the Oscars on Sunday night. But the real competition is in the office pools. Academy Award lotteries are in full swing, and it can get vicious.

This used to be a minor amusement. You guessed the top four or five awards and you won the office pool that might have been $10 or $20.

Now each guess can cost you $5 or $10 and some people buy $50 slots. Lots of people kick in. The pots go as high as $1,000. The idea in some pools is to guess who wins in certain categories. Each correct guess wins you points. Whoever gets the most points wins the pot.

But this isn't the hit-or-miss thing it used to be. Experts all over the country are on TV, in newspapers, on the Internet and in magazines talking about who they think will win. This makes it hard to be the only winner because everyone is getting expert advice.

So pool organizers are coming up with bonus questions to break the ties. Each contest seems to have diabolical sponsors. The bonus questions are outrageous.

The tiebreaker in one contest is to name all the actresses who were pregnant when they won their Oscar. Still another wants to know what the story was behind the best-song Oscar in 1967. Or there is the one that asks what first name is most common among Oscar winners.

And all these bonus questions aren't given out in advance. Most of them are passed out during the ceremonies so no one has a chance to do any research.

In some pools, entrants are allowed to submit a bonus question. If their question is picked, they have an advantage.

"This isn't small-time anymore," one host told me. "This is for $600 this year. People are gonna cheat. I'm gonna cheat."

I like to think I'm above all this, but I've bought two $5 tickets in a $500 Oscar lottery.

The host told me the bonus question: Who is the son of the man who won best director in 1974?

"Is that a tough enough bonus question?" he wanted to know.

All is fair in love and lottery questions.

"No," I said. "I think you should have to give the name of the son and what his SAT scores were. Let's make this a contest."

"I'm giving an Oscar party," says Andrew Johnston. "Everyone is paying $5 a ballot. Some have already turned them in. Then others have turned theirs in and are going through the early entries to see what other people have chosen. Now I have to be careful to keep all entries out of sight, even from my wife."

He thinks there should be questions on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire all about Oscars on the week before the Academy Awards.

"It sounds easy, but it isn't," Andrew says. "And I tell you, people won't be any more competitive for $1 million than they are for the $500 Oscar pool."

Some office pools have gotten more sophisticated with the years. They just don't include current awards in their questions. They ask about the hosts through the years and not winning songs but losing songs. The answers, of course, have to be given in person so the entrants won't have a chance to look things up.

"In our contest," says Anne James, "you get different points for winners where the odds are lower. For instance, Julia Roberts is far and above the choice for best actress this year. So we give just five points if she wins. But if some obscure nominee wins, you get 10 points for picking her."

Oscar parties are a big rage this year. There will be a lot of players. So some organizers are going even further.

"You get five extra points for coming dressed as your favorite female star from last year," says Billy Ray Deacon. "And that's just for the guys. The women have to compete for having the best Oscar-like jewelry."