March Mega Madness

I know very little about professional sports. Of course I know how games are played, but not about how individuals obsessed with a particular sport have elevated it to insane heights that blot out the rest of life for a season. This is true for what is called "March Madness.

I used to think "March Madness" had something to do with Alice in Wonderland. Isn't there a character named the March Hare who went crazy? Or was that the Mad Hatter? (I read the book about 60 years ago so understandably I'm a bit blurry on the plot.) But it turns out it's about basketball.

A couple of weeks ago my husband suggested I "pick brackets to win money in an office pool." I had no idea his office even had a pool! But then he explained what that meant and showed me that all I had to do was choose a team from two that were playing against one another and keep doing that. So I did. It took about two minutes to randomly check a lot of little boxes. I never heard of the teams and I had no system. It was just whatever name struck me in some way. 

I am now in first place (out of 31) and stand to win $200. My husband, who knows a ton about sports and has played the brackets for most of his adulthood, thoughtfully contemplating his choices for several days, is in 20th place.

It really is madness after all.