It’s that time of year again: March Madness! When everyone suddenly cares about college basketball. And by “cares about,” I mean gambles on. Seriously, is there any other sports event that proves gambling is at the root of its appeal than this one?
Well, I’m not generally a huge gambler, but I do participate in the annual office March Madness pool. As far as I can tell, there are three ways to make your picks:
1) Watch tons of college basketball throughout the season and analyze the match-ups based on what you’ve seen.
Well, I’m not generally a huge gambler, but I do participate in the annual office March Madness pool. As far as I can tell, there are three ways to make your picks:
1) Watch tons of college basketball throughout the season and analyze the match-ups based on what you’ve seen.
Percentage of people who actually do this: .83
2) Watch and read tons of analysis that others have compiled for you before making you picks.
2) Watch and read tons of analysis that others have compiled for you before making you picks.
Percentage of people who do it this way: 27
3) Pick schools based on completely random factors, such as the viciousness of their mascot, whether or not you know anyone who goes/went there, whether or not any of their athletic programs have been remotely good in the past 30 years, the color of their uniforms, the catchiness of their fight song, etc.
3) Pick schools based on completely random factors, such as the viciousness of their mascot, whether or not you know anyone who goes/went there, whether or not any of their athletic programs have been remotely good in the past 30 years, the color of their uniforms, the catchiness of their fight song, etc.
Percentage of people who pick this way: 72.17 percent.
This year, after an inter-office discussion about Kent State making it to the dance, I came up with a fourth method of making picks: tragedy points. If a massacre or some other notorious crime/disaster has occured at the school, that team at least makes it out of the first round. This works for Kent State , Texas and Baylor this year. Other years, it could work for Northern Illinois, Virginia Tech, Seton Hall and probably others I can’t think of. You can't base an entire bracket on this method – and let’s all thank God for that – but it could help you chose some interesting upsets. (And yes, my entire office is scared of me for thinking this up).
This year, after an inter-office discussion about Kent State making it to the dance, I came up with a fourth method of making picks: tragedy points. If a massacre or some other notorious crime/disaster has occured at the school, that team at least makes it out of the first round. This works for Kent State , Texas and Baylor this year. Other years, it could work for Northern Illinois, Virginia Tech, Seton Hall and probably others I can’t think of. You can't base an entire bracket on this method – and let’s all thank God for that – but it could help you chose some interesting upsets. (And yes, my entire office is scared of me for thinking this up).
What other interesting ways do you fill out your bracket?
1 comment:
I only filled out a bracket once (like 5 years ago) and sucked, but I will say, Go Torreros!
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