March is finally here and with it comes the single best sporting event on the planet, the NCAA Basketball Tournament.
While not traditionally thought of as being as big of a sporting event as the World Series or the Super Bowl, March Madness is better than both of them in terms of pure lunacy and fun.
It all starts with selection Sunday where the seeding is announced for the bracket. This is followed by millions of people across the world who make their own brackets predicting the outcomes of each of the 63 games.
The goal of having a perfect bracket adds another layer of fun to the tournament. Billionaire Warren Buffet even said that if anyone gets a perfect bracket, he would personally give them one million dollars, but this has never happened.
Then comes the tournament itself and there is nothing in the world like the opening week of the NCAA Tournament. In just four days, 48 games with everything on the line are played.
Every year, regardless of the teams, there are some serious upsets that you do not see in other sports. For example, last year, 12th seeded Murray State throttled 5th seeded Marquette. These types of upset are far from unique in the tournament with two of the other 5th seeded teams also losing their game in the first round.
This randomness is what makes the opening week so special, but there is far more to the tournament than just the upsets.
As the tournament progresses, the games start to get even more intense in the sweet 18 and then the elite 8.
Just look at the Duke vs Michigan State elite 8 game last year. Even though it was not in the final four, we were still given an all time classic between two teams who had championship aspirations. In how many other sports do you see that in a quarter final?
Then we have the most culminating part of the entire tournament where the final four are pitted against one another. During this part of the tournament, there are always some classic matchups that occur.
Some years, the tournament ends up with the most dominant teams getting in the final four, like in 2015 when we saw three one seeds make it. This leads to some extremely competitive games ending in the last couple of possessions.
Other years, we see a Cinderella make a run all the way into the final four, like when Loyola Chicago made their magical run in 2018.
All the different possibilities in a 68 team field is what makes this tournament so entertaining and better than any other sporting events and I am not alone in thinking this.
According to the American Gaming Association, there was likely more than 10 billion U.S. dollars were bet on the tournament in 2018, which is more than what they projected for the World Cup and Super Bowl combined.
While March Madness was not first in viewership, this gambling aspect is arguably even more important. This makes the tournament even better to watch because it makes the stakes that much greater. Therefore, nothing comes close to the spectacle that is March Madness.