Ahhh, March Madness!!

There is no denying it.  It's knocking on the door like the kid with the droopy eyes and big dreams wondering if you wanna buy some magazines.  BTW... not sure that the magazines actually ever arrive at your house!?  Weird.  Anyway, the bracket busters are tightening up their sneaks and the 5 seeds are hoping they aren't the 34% that fall to the 12 seed.  March Madness Baby!!

This window of basketball bliss is hard to challenge.  People from all over will drink the March Madness Kool-aid and fill out their brackets.  The office admin assistant will diligently complete her bracket with her favorite mascots, while others pick based on team colors, coaches, cuteness, and where they attended youth basketball camps.  I do think there are still a few peeps out there that spend time and review seedings, match-ups, players, altitudes, medical records, barometric pressure and actual basketball stats.  Who has the better approach?  Couldn't tell ya as I know that in my years of researching the tourney in depth prior to jotting down my winner, I have only won once and seen many a admin assistant come away with the cash... thanking her lucky mascot all the way to happy hour!

Companies around the country will lose productivity levels that rival Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.  I have employees that are requesting the famous Thursday and Friday off completely.  They aren't hiding it.  Simply stating, "Opening round of the tourney, boss".  You can't deny that time off, and you have to appreciate the honesty.  What other tournament will allow you to stream the games live, from your office or cubicle while on THE MAN's clock AND provide you with the "Boss Button".  For those of you that don't know,  you can sit back and cheer on the Arizona Wildcats and when danger approaches....  hit the boss button on the screen that pops up some bogus Excel spreadsheet.  LOVE IT!

I have found that once my bracket is in shambles and resembles Lindsay Lohan without makeup (or with makeup for that matter), I instantly wave my pom-pom for the underdogs.  There's nothing better than seeing that 14 or 15 seed start making noise.  Their fan base growing with every upset and the question looming... "how far can they go in this thing?".  Reference the Gonzaga kids years back and moving to the Butler boys last year.  It's just awesome.

Many people will tell you that the most wonderful sound to enter their ears is the laughter of a baby.  My good friend in Flagstaff will tell you that it's when his favorite opera singer fills the air with melody...  I'm here to tell you that the most amazing and wonderful sound is when Dick Vitale calls an NCAA March Madness game.  If there's a buzzer beater or big upset... well, I might weep as his words fill the airwaves.  There should be a ringtone of Dicky V and his one-liners.  Hummm...  I don't know how to do those things so will leave it to a techie on the other end of this message.

So with that, I leave you to your research and blank brackets.  Don't be scared to make your picks.  Go with your gut and method that you have used for years.  Worst thing that happens is you get bounced after the first weekend and get to take in another year of this wonderful, wonderful time of year without the stress, mobile score updates, scores being texted to your phone while you're in the staff meeting and the disappointment.  OR, don't watch the tourney at all and flip over to watch the fat, bald guys pull volkswagons on the beach.  Your call.

P.S.  GO AZ!!