It's March Madness, Baby!

March is my favorite sports month. I am not a big sports fan but like college basketball. And the best part of that is the tournament that takes place in March every year. The March Madness this year started today and so I thought I would write something about it (can’t write a whole lot as I will miss the games then :-)).

A committee picks the 64/65 teams that play in this tournament and there is always a debate over some teams that got in and the rankings of some teams. Finally resigning to the fact that I can’t possibly agree with the committee on the whole bracket, I have told myself (which I needed to be reminded of sometimes) that the ranking does not matter in the end. A team that can win will win, regardless of whether it is ranked #4 or #9.

Here are some things I like most about this tournament. There are always upsets and it is so heartening to see the underdogs win. These kids (oh man, that makes me feel old!) give their all to win and that is their only objective for the forty minutes of the game. Yes, there are contracts to sign and money to make but those come after the games.

The other interesting thing is to watch the courtside demeanor of the coaches. There are some coaches who would be yelling at their players even when their team has a comfortable lead and then there are some who won’t be saying much even when the game is within a few points. The theatrics can’t be scripted to be this dramatic.

I have been filling out brackets for the last few years just for the thrill of it. And it makes the tournament more exciting to keep track of my teams – the ones I have going to the Final Four. I have to say that I got lucky last year and won the office pool and that was an easily earned few hundred dollars. This is sheer luck as there were other people who knew much more about the teams and the sport than I did. But then that is the beauty of any sport, isn’t it? One can’t say that this is the better team and hence this team will win, as there is always the possibility that the underdog could play better and win. It is 50-50 chance for either team.

Some years ago, the tournament brackets were filled on paper and the pool coordinator would be checking them after each round and posting the results. But now, lots of sites have pools that can be managed online and this makes it so very convenient to participate in pools with friends (regardless of where they are).

For anybody that is interested, here is (one of) my brackets for this year’s tournament.




Root for my teams, if you haven’t filled out a bracket :-)