CHATTER AWAY: Overnight Open Thread

NPR reports:

Who doesn’t love big, fat bears? At least from a distance. And who doesn’t love filling out a bracket where winners move on and losers go home? Combine the two and you’ve got Fat Bear Week — a kind of Ursine March Madness, in October.

There are an estimated 2,000 bears in Katmai National Park & Preserve, a glorious and massive 4 million-acre stretch of wilderness in Southwest Alaska. Each year, the bears spend the summer trying to get as fat as they can to prepare for hibernation.

And in October, bear fans get to vote on who is the fattest of them all. This year, the bears were whittled down to a bracket of 12 contenders. Four heavyweights had first-round byes. Voters on the park’s Facebook page choose their favorite from each matchup. The winner moves on to the next round.