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$10K Tweet: UMBC upset sparks St. Paul Saints giveaway

The St. Paul Saints kept their word and one lucky person, @CurtCmckay22, won $10,000.
Mar 16, 2018; Charlotte, NC, USA; UMBC Retrievers celebrates after the Virginia Cavaliers in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament at Spectrum Center. (Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports)

ST. PAUL, Minn. - A Minnesota man has won $10,000, thanks to the St. Paul Saints, one retweet, and a historic NCAA Tournament upset.

That's why it's called March Madness.

Sixteen-seeds we 0-135 all-time against one-seeds in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. That is, until, University of Maryland, Baltimore County came along.

Last Friday night, they took the Virginia Cavaliers (the number-one overall seed in the tournament) to the woodshed. Seriously, it wasn't even close and such a victory may only happen once in a lifetime.

The St. Paul Saints knew the odds and wanted to join in on the tournament fun. That's why on Monday, March 12, they tweeted the following: “We don't have a billion dollars like @WarrenBuffett, but our GM @DerekSharrer has officially gone mad. The Saints will give away $10,000 if a 16 seed beats a 1 seed in #MarchMadness2018. All you have to do is retweet this to enter & we'll choose one winner if it happens.”

The Saints say the tweet got more than 6,000 retweets before the start of the tournament. Now, it has more than 20,000. According to social media marketers NUVI, the Saints (#5) and owner Derek Sharrer (#7) were among the top ten most mentioned #MarchMadness Twitter profiles of the past weekend.

So, on Tuesday, the Saints kept their word and one lucky person, Curt McKay of Centerville (@CurtCmckay22), won $10,000.

“The $10,000 prize comes at a perfect time because I was just laid off from my job of 17 years,” McKay told the Saints. “I was tuned in and when I saw my name I couldn’t believe it. I was like ‘Are you sure it’s me?’ I immediately called my wife to tell her the good news.”

Single-game Saints tickets are on sale now. The Saints' home opener is on Monday, May 21.

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