March madness is a college basketball tournament that is held every year. The tournament is always during March and it starts following the end of the regular season. This is a very exciting tournament to watch because of the very intense games and crazy upsets that we see every year. People will also fill out brackets once the 68 teams are selected and the matchups are locked in. This brings hype around the tournament and also keeps people who watch entertained through the whole game, as they want whoever they choose in their bracket to win. This tournament is very popular and is one of the most-watched sporting events every year. 19 million people on average tune in and watch games every year. However, not everyone watches the games just for the excitement and shocking outcomes, a lot of people love to gamble on this tournament because of the upsets that come with March madness. Fifteen billion dollars was spent on wagering during last year’s tournament. These reasons are why people find themselves always looking forward to March madness. It keeps the die-hard fans and casuals entertained every year.
“Being such a die-hard fan, watching these games always gets intense especially when Texas Tech plays.” said senior Kade Woslager. “I have always loved Texas tech growing up as a kid, My dad got me into watching March Madness and ever since then, I have loved watching it. He really could care less about who wins, he just watches games for the money now.”
While a lot of people get caught up with the games and all the other stuff during this event. It’s not always all about that. A Lot of families have traditions they do or usually have something going on with friends and family during March madness. Doing brackets with family or attending watch parties, brings a lot of people closer. Some people would rather make memories and not worry so much about the games but that is usually what separates the casuals and the die-hards. Some people like to go all out for their team and some others don’t.
“My family all comes together, we either meet or we go to someone’s house to watch the games all day long.” Freshman Sebastian Caban said. “ Usually we will have something on the grill or just order it from a restaurant. We have been doing this for March Madness every year for like 8 years, and it’s always fun to hang out with my family and watch basketball all day.”
For some people who are new to watching March Madness, they don’t really care to fill out brackets or anything, they rather just watch and see who wins. Filling them out is a lot of work and you have to keep up with it especially if there is something on the line, you have to follow all the games to see how your bracket is doing. So not participating in all that can save a lot of stress but once you get into it you will definitely be hooked. Part of the reason some people don’t fill them out also is because they don’t watch college basketball all year or are not familiar enough with the teams to even fill one out.
“I have never really been into college basketball as much as some of my friends are. So doing all those brackets isn’t something I do,” senior Dane Donohoe said. “I still watch it with all my friends but they know way more about college basketball than I do, so I just sit there and watch, and I don’t worry about a bracket.”
The first 4 games of the mens tournament are set to kick off in Dayton, Ohio on March 18-19. And the womens kicks off in Tampa, Florida on March 19-20.
