This March Has Been Bananas!!!
It isn’t a secret that this is one of my favorite time of year. This basketball tournament is quite possibly on of the most exciting things in all of sports. How many other sporting events can a way lesser ranked team not only compete but possibly move on past a higher ranked team? That is why it is Madness! This year has not disappointed. Man oh man, there are so many things that happened this year that has never happened!
Has this tournament been the best ever? That is the question we all ask ourselves every year but this year has went a little different. But to really answer that question we have to take a step back and see how you deem the tournament a success. What I mean by that is in my eyes there are four types of March Madness viewer. One who enjoys seeing the traditionally good teams go far in the tournament, one who enjoys absolute chaos, one that lives and dies by their bracket, and lastly, the newest one, the one who bets on every game. So which one are you?
Let’s start off with the obvious one. Are you a viewer who enjoys when the “Bluebloods” dominate? Do you like to see traditional teams like Duke, Michigan State, North Carolina, and the such end up in the Final Four or beyond? This type of viewer is more a traditionalist. When they fill their brackets out they love it when the lower seeds always beat the higher seed, or everything goes “chalk”. This viewer also doesn’t really like the Cinderella stories and want to avoid chaos at all means.
With that one out of the way we have the complete opposite. The viewer that enjoys the chaos. Nothing makes them happier than seeing a number 16 seed beat a 1 seed. Most of their brackets have a traditional 10 seed over a 7 seed upset. They love a good underdog story and hate it when things do go chalk. Well I have to say that if you fall into this category then you are loving this season! Three of the Final Four teams have not been this far before. There isn’t a number one seed in the Final Four for the first time in forever so a viewer like this living their best lives!
The last two you can almost toss into the same category but I decided to make them separate because there are two different mentalities when it comes to the bracket lover and the gambler. Some viewers love filling out brackets. Some fill out multiple and some are traditionalists and only fill out one. This year there were over 10 million brackets submitted just to ESPN. With more places getting in the mix there are more brackets being submitted every year. Take into account the office pools and friends groups that put on bracket challenges I would say that most every sports fan fills out at least one. This type of viewer is a mix of the first two. They want chaos, but only chaos that they choose.
Lastly we are left with the sports gambler. I say this is the newest one because of the legalization of sports betting on our phones. I have to admit I have been doing this since it became available here in Michigan. This type of viewer places a bet on each game they watch. This adds more enjoyment to games that they wouldn’t have much interest in before. It kind of gives you a little steak in every game you bet on. I have a feeling that more folks are leaning towards this type of viewer. I know I am. I am moving more towards this type of viewing on all sports instead of focusing on fantasy sports or brackets. I still enjoy fantasy sports but not the way I used to.
So I ask again, is this the best tournament ever? In my eyes it has been! I do enjoy the Cinderella stories but I also like to watch good basketball too. The argument the chalk viewer will pose is that once you get too many higher seeds late in the tournament the quality of play decreases. This season hasn’t had that. We honestly have the four hottest teams in the country right now. We are seeing teams playing not only great defense but offense as well. We are seeing teams that have played together for years outlast teams that have a lot of one and done players. This is bucking the trend we have seen for years and I LOVE it! Do you agree? Which type of viewer are you? Regardless of how you enjoy the tournament one thing we can agree on is that March is a special time of year!