March Madness creates great pandemonium for sports fans and journalists; Gus Johnson, buzzer beaters, and brackets are madness defined for sports (mostly Gus Johnson). The true secret to why people watch the tournament with such great fervor is those silly little brackets. Everyone knows it. Why do you think ESPN will have Doug Gottlieb and every other college basketball analyst talk Bracketology for fifteen minutes on Sportscenter? They know it’s what you want. Whose Richmond and what are their upsets of an upset? Can San Diego State go all the way? There are standards for filling out brackets. There’s always a 12-5 upset. Don’t have all 1’s in the Final Four (People loved that one last year). Try not to pick against your family members’ alma maters until forced to. People will fill multiple brackets with differing determinations and enter them into the same office pool in the hopes of winning a little extra cash. It is insane. And I absolutely love it.
I have only recently asked “The Madness” her hand in marriage. It began when my uncle, a Gonzaga alum, was watching those Bracketology shows, filling his bracket with hopes (Got to give the man credit, he won his office pool the year Florida won.) and wondered why I wasn’t doing the same. I explained how I had never been able to get into college basketball; I was more a Pro fan. However, I was curious to try my luck with this whole bracket deal. I watched a bit of the show with him, and mustering every ounce of college basketball knowledge I had, which was none, to fill out that silly, little bracket. I suddenly became an intense viewer, watching more college basketball than I previously knew was possible. I remember being so proud of picking San Diego State as a 12 seed to upset whichever 5 seed they were playing. I also remember being absolutely crushed when they lost their next game, but here’s the secret: I didn’t even have them winning the next game. I had become so attached to a team that I didn’t know existed prior to being handed a blank bracket because they won me a small victory in the first round that didn’t have a true impact on the tournament. It doesn’t make sense, but it’s the same reason after bragging to my uncle about my previous genius in picking that upset, I erased a previous pick and changed it, all so I could proclaim my greatness some more. Of course in the end, he kicked my ass but I still had that one small upset.
Does no one else see how brackets cause such great madness in our country? I rooted for Michigan State last night more than I have ever cheered for my Florida State Seminoles before. I was more upset that the refs called traveling against Kalin Lucas than when Florida State kicker Dustin Hopkins kicked wide right against the North Carolina Tar heels to win the game. I even had UNC players taunting us fans in the stands yelling, “This is our house now, baby! Our house!” Hell, I’m still upset about that traveling call even when multiple replays confirm the call.
Whoever originally thought of giving fans brackets to fill, should be praised and cursed at the same time. It’s a terrible curse but I wouldn’t want “The Madness” any other way.
By the way, my Final Four is Ohio State, Kansas, San Diego State, and St. John's (I had hope) with San Diego State winning it all.
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