by Bruno Somerset

Created on: March 01, 2007   Last Updated: March 16, 2009

The NCAA Basketball Tournament is the ultimate sporting event in America, surpassing even the Super Bowl for sheer intensity and drama. The 65 teams chosen for the Big Dance yesterday will battle for the chance to cut down the nets in Detroit on April 6th, and the country will be captivated by this spectacle. Here are some of the reasons we will be held spellbound by March Madness over the next three weeks:

1. As a culture we have become addicted to filling out our Tournament Brackets for office pools. Bragging rights, and no small amount of cash, are on the line. The pressure has become so great that some insecure people fill out multiple brackets just to cover every situation; these people should be mocked mercilessly.

2. Upsets are common. Unlike college football, the favorites don't always win. And nearly every year, some underdog comes out of nowhere, breaks your bracket, and makes it to at least the Elite Eight. Underdogs that pull off the ultimate upset and win the whole thing are remembered forever. Villanova, North Carolina State, and Texas Western come immediately to mind. In fact, the website of the University of Texas- El Paso (formerly Texas Western) has a link titled simply "1966", the year they upset heavily favored Kentucky in the Final. That was 43 years ago.

3. The Internet allows us to stream video of the games at work all day for three weeks, helping to make March the least productive month of the year. It is like an extended Spring Break for adults, and serves to break up the long holiday drought between New Year's and Memorial Day.

4. Both current students and alumni are rabid about their University's teams, much more so than with professional sports. Young men will paint their bodies to match the school colors, cheerleaders will cry after last-second defeats and trash talk will be rampant.

4. Beyond the school association, there is state and regional pride at stake. Governors will make ridiculous wagers with each other even if they have never watched a basketball game before in their lives. Talking trash is taken to a new level.

6. Finally, it's captivating because it's three weeks of really great basketball. No steroid controversy, no complaining about not getting a $100 million contract extension, no spoiled bad-boys. Just a bunch of kids going all-out every game because every game could be their last. And they know that if they are the last team standing, we'll remember them, even 43 years later.

And just for the record, my Finals pick is North Carolina over Louisville 71-70.

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