Work.Retire.Die.

This. Is. March. After a wild few days of voting, we’ve made it through two rounds of the What You’re Most Looking Forward to Post Covid tournament and just 16 teams stand. If you missed the full tournament kick off and how it works, go check it out here.

Voting starts today at 4 pm on Instagram for the next 24 hours, so hop on over to make your voice heard.

Let’s get into it.

Where We Stand

How’d We Get There

Little Things Region

First Round Madness

• #11 Lines Inside of Stores Instead of Outside knocks off a sixth seeded No More Mascne, which is really only the 4th worst facial issue with masks, after sweaty mouth, runny nose and foggy glasses.

• #13 Food Store Samples upset fifth seeded Uber Pools thanks to its depth and versatility, getting contributions from cheese at a wine store, Costco and teriyaki chicken from the Tokyo Express in the mall food court.

Second Round Results

• #9 Being Totally Blind to Medical Trends fought hard but fell to #1 High Fives after it became clear that it’s probably not the worst thing in the world to continue to stay informed about key health issues.

• #13 Never Hearing ‘Unprecedented Times’ Again knocked off Food Store Samples to continue its unprecedented (sorry) Cinderella run thanks to the phrase’s smothering presence in every aspect of daily life from advertising to work emails to jokes on the Internet about how often it’s used.

• Fan favorite 14th seed Seeing People Smile continued its wholesome run through the tournament by knocking off #11 Lines Inside Stores Instead of Outside, which started off the season hot but has faded in relevancy throughout the pandemic.

• Early tournament sleeper Posting Someone Up falls to a streaking Fans in the Crowd at Sports Games, a team that simply makes everything seem better and more important.

What to Watch For

In a region heavy with upsets, keep an eye on 14 seed Seeing People Smile, a game-changing squad that has the potential to turn around your entire day with a minor interaction.

Meanwhile, top ranked High Fives is an up and down team that’s ripe for an upset because while there’s nothing better than a good high five, there’s nothing more humiliating than a botched one.

Work Region

First Round Madness

• 10th seed Using the Corporate Card dominates Hanging Out in the Conference Room After the Call Ends in convincing fashion thanks to its ability to provide credit card points and a luxury lifestyle of meals, hotels, and business class flights that you simply do not deserve.

• Fun, high-energy Shooting the Shit at Your Desk blew the doors off of a #9 Face time with your Boss squad that ends up being more stressful and generally lame than actually impactful.

Second Round Results

• Top seed Leaving Work on a Friday continued its dominating run, defeating Shooting the Shit at Your Desk in an absolute bloodbath, proving once again that the best part about work is when it’s over for the next 2 days.

• While #4 Meeting Your New Coworkers fought hard and was carried by star player Finding Out How Tall the New Guy Dan Is, they ultimately fell to an under-appreciated Lunch Breaks squad that has dissolved in scarfing down leftovers in the 3 minutes between calls during remote work.

• 3rd seed Closing Your Laptop and Being Done for the Day handled a young Office Happy Hour team that is great when you’re out of college but becomes an obligation and unavoidable prison of small-talk as you get older.

• While Using the Corporate Card can carry an office happy hour on its back, it lacks the universal appeal of #2 WFH As a Treat and Not Daily Life, which is rounding into form as corporate drones have fully lost all interpersonal communication skills a full year into working from home.

What to Watch For

Top seeded Leaving Work on a Friday will be nearly impossible to beat with its unmatched combination of freedom, excitement for the weekend, and the impending joy of forgetting about your job so completely that you have no idea how to do it when you return on Monday.

Socializing Region

First Round Madness

• While 10th seed Leaving Your Card at the Bar is a great excuse to get out of the house on Sunday, it’s ultimately way too annoying to be taken seriously and fell to a #7 Being Able to Read Facial Expressions team that is ideal for determining if a waiter thinks your joke is funny or finds you incredibly obnoxious.

• #2 Bar Hopping dominates a hapless Running into an Acquaintance team that actually will be more annoying post-masks, as it becomes more difficult to walk past and pretend you didn’t see a friend of a friend on the street.

Second Round Results

• 2018 Best Things in the World champion Reuniting with Friends You Haven’t Seen for Months was stunned by 8 seed Making Spontaneous Plans, a hot team that relied on their improvisational abilities and fast break offense, and the fact that most people have already seen their friends by this point.

• Watching Sports at a Crowded Bar dominated 11 seed Meeting a New Person, Literally Anyone thanks to its unmatched combination of camaraderie and rowdiness and the undeniable concept of stranger danger.

• While 4 seed No More Zoom Parties has slowed in relevance since last summer, they fought hard and knocked off #5 Taking Advantage of a Good Outfit, mainly due to the fact that most people who follow this account don’t actually have that many good outfits.

• A scrappy Being Able to Read Facial Expressions battled hard but fell to 2nd seed Bar-Hopping, a squad that is primed to dominate the region and potentially the entire tournament.

What to Watch For

Bar-hopping is the easy favorite to emerge from the region, but keep an eye on the 4 seed, No More Zoom Parties, a favorite of anyone whose had to sit through a virtual Secret Santa with your coworkers that you forgot to get a gift for.

Experiences Region

First Round Madness

• 7 seed Dave and Busters stormed back from behind to take down Stand Up Comedy Show, because while you can watch stand up at home, you can’t experience the thrill of spending $100 on tokens to walk away with a stunning necklace like this.

Second Round Results

• Top ranked Attending a Live Sports Game continued its dominating run through the tournament, knocking off a solid Movie Theatre squad that’s great when you’re high, but can’t compete with the joy of tailgating, blacking out before noon and falling asleep at halftime.

• A spunky Karaoke team played well on the big stage, but fell to a Weddings team that might eventually become a burden, but for now serve as a welcome excuse to dress up and celebrate the bonds of eternal matrimony that has a 50% chance of ending in divorce.

• Dave and Busters thrilling run came to an end at the hands of #3 International Travel, an experienced team that will give you enough Instagram and small talk material for the next 6 months.

• A young Clubbing team came out with a ton of energy, but ultimately was too inconsistent of an experience to take down 2nd seed Concerts, which is primed for a deep run this tournament.

Tune in next week to find out what happens. Don’t forget to Vote on the Instagram Stories and subscribe to the weekly newsletter to find out the latest updates first.