Mar 21, 2017 3 min read

Are your brackets busted yet?

If you have no idea what I’m asking then you must not be a sports fan or else you’re hibernating in a cave away from the constant din occurring right now about the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

Each March, it seems the entire country does truly go mad for basketball and I can certainly understand why. It’s great fun hearing everyone discuss their picks in the tournament brackets and which team they think will be “Cinderella” this year. The first few days of the tourney are truly exciting with 64 teams in action all trying to get to that one final championship game. I find the process to be quite democratic though I’m sure those whose teams weren’t invited to the tournament would surely disagree.

I usually don’t bother to fill out brackets even though the most seasoned tourney pickers vow that someone who doesn’t know anything about basketball usually wins the office pool by pure luck or chance. What method do you use? Favorite teams? Highest seeds with the best records? Which mascot could take down the other school’s mascot? That’s always my favorite because it makes me laugh pitting birds against big cats or a giant orange against a tree.

Although I do follow my favorite college team throughout the season and watch a lot of the tournament games, basketball is just not my favorite sport. Football will always hold that spot. I just find the last few minutes of basketball games to be too nerve-wracking for my taste. That may sound strange for someone who is fan of Indy car racing, which often comes down to the last few laps and a photo finish.

For some reason, the last two minutes of even a somewhat close basketball game usually take 20 minutes to play with each team calling timeouts after every play and a television commercial during each one. Even the final 30 seconds can take forever and bring wild swings of 10 or more points in the score. Those who love basketball say that is exactly why the game is so terrific and exciting. I personally don’t like the nail-biting stress it induces when my team is fighting to get into the Sweet 16 and only up by one point with five seconds to play. Who knows what will happen? The thrill of victory or the agony of defeat?

Now, if they would decide to scrap college football bowl games and instead have 64 teams in a playoff tournament vying for a spot in the championship game … count me in! We could call it December Madness or December Delirium and everyone could fill out brackets for their office pools then, too.

Maybe I’ll fill out a March Madness bracket next year just for fun. My odds of winning can’t be any worse than in the Powerball drawing.

Kristin Emery can be reached at kristinemery1@yahoo.com.