Let's Have A Little Fun!

Good Day Everyone!

I was bored at work this morning and I decided to hold the First Ever Gospel Artist Tournament.  It's just a fun "March Madness"-style series I came up with just to see the opinions of everyone here.  I have 64 artists battling for position of the Champion of LGM!!  Number one seeds were based on 1) longevity in the gospel music world, 2) "Loveability" of individual artist 3) immediate & sustainable impact on the mass consumer base;  here they are:

Shirley Caesar
Kirk Franklin
Richard Smallwood
Daryl Coley

I will be referring each bracket by the last name of these number one seeds.

Artists in the Caesar Bracket are as follows:
 1. Shirley Caesar
 2. Timothy Wright
 3. Dorothy Norwood
 4. Mary Mary
 5. Cece Winans
 6. Williams Bros.
 7. Tonex
 8. Marvin Sapp
 9. Beverly Crawford
10. Bebe Winans
11. Byron Cage
12. Larry Trotter
13. Keith "Wonderboy" Johnson
14. Damita Haddon
15. New Direction
16. Maurette Brown-Clark

COLEY BRACKET:
 1. Daryl Coley
 2. John P. Kee
 3. Canton Spirituals
 4. Donnie McClurkin
 5. Hezekiah Walker
 6. Commissioned
 7. LaShun Pace
 8. Gospel Gangstaz
 9. Dorinda Clark-Cole
10. Detrick Haddon
11. Anointed
12. BB Jay
13. Martha Munizzi
14. J. Moss
15. Lil IROCC
16. LEXI

FRANKLIN BRACKET:
 1. Kirk Franklin
 2. Fred Hammond
 3. Bobby Jones
 4. Milton Brunson
 5. Kurt Carr
 6. Mississippi Mass Choir
 7. Chicago Mass Choir
 8. Donald Lawrence
 9. Twinkie Clark
10. Vicki Winans
11. Tri-Ni-Tee 5:7
12. Kirk Whalum
13. Out of Eden
14. Kierra Sheard
15. Ramiyah
16. Lonnie Hunter

SMALLWOOD BRACKET:
 1. Richard Smallwood
 2. Yolanda Adams
 3. Georgia Mass Choir
 4. Dottie Peoples
 5. Smokie Norful
 6. Karen Clark-Sheard
 7. Lee E Williams/Spiritual QC's
 8. Kim Burrell
 9. Vanessa Bell Armstrong
10. Israel & New Breed
11. Men of Standard
12. Rizen
13. Shakinah Glory
14. Tye Tribett & G.A.
15. Natalie Wilson
16. Voices of Unity (V.O.U)

Again, this is just something that's fun and hopefully the LGM community can get involved.  Of course, I will break up the brackets into their own posts.

God Bless Everyone & Let the games begin!!

[4hisglory]

As you know, all the 'Who is better' threads are deleted, buuuutttt being a big March Madness fan, how do you play (for entertainment purposes only)?????

Well, I'm going to post the matchups within each individual bracket.  Then members would simply just decide which artist has been a real blessing in their life or if they feel that the artist has a way of making the music industry a more anointed atmosphere.  It's not meant to be a "who's better" type of feel.  Just something that's a little off-beat from the usual posts in these forums.

I'm quite sure it's going to be a lot of discussions as far as seeding and matchups, and of course, the whole idea is to let the members open up a little bit as to their favorite artist.  All in good fun, but still anointed and spirit-filled.

[jamaicanbaan]

Hey What happened to Inez Andrews, Cassieta George, Albertina Walker,Delores Washington,James Cleveland, Mighty Clouds of joy, Bessie Griffin,Loletta Holloway,and Rev.Cleophus Robinson........?

[B3Wannabe]

I don't know if it's just me, but I can't see any discernable pattern to those lists you made. I mean, why in the world is Tonex in the Caesar bracket and not Kirk Franklin?

B3, There were a series of problems I ran into with the seeding.  I mean, you got some of the most influential artists today, along with up-and-coming artists trying to make their impact in the world.  Putting Tonex in the Franklin Bracket would've been SO easy because only contemporary gospel fans would put in their input.  Tonex, being "Out The Box", is going to have to cut through a lot of "traditional" tape to succeed from this bracket.  Now, be honest: did you REALLY want ALL the choirs in one bracket, tradtional in a bracket, contemporary in a bracket, quartets in a bracket?

I am truly sorry for names that should be in and was omitted.  But like in the "other" tournament, your team might not make it.  But, that's what makes this excercise SO MUCH FUN!  Matchups coming soon...

[4hisglory]

Maybe there should be a category for Female Solist, Male Solist, Groups and Choirs??  Then the best of each genre will be in the final four.  Just and idea.

I wanted to do something like that and it was looking real promising.  I realized later that even in the basketball bracket, they say that they try to seed folks as close to the regional site as possible, but the majority of the teams always ended up traveling cross-country to their games.  I also wanted to see if people are as "contemporary" as they say they are.  More than likely, I will break them up in those various areas on the next go-round.  Hopefully, I'll get some help and the field can expand to 128.