March Madness Popular with College Students

By Justin Marr


Even if you’re not a college basketball fan, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of March Madness.
It’s tournament time for the best teams in country.
It’s a time for upsets and incredible athlete performances.
But the best part is, it’s all captured on national television and watched by millions.
“This is my favorite time of year man,” said Central Michigan junior Kyle Adams. “I actually skipped classes last weekend just to watch the games.”
Adams is one of many students who take this time of year seriously.
His roommate, senior John Taipalus, said he doesn’t care about anything else while college basketball is on.
“Kyle and I literally sat on the couch from 12 [pm] to 9 drinking beer and watching the games,” Taipalus said. “There’s nothing like it.”
Students like Kyle and John fill out March Madness brackets, a traditional pastime in America.
The students fill out a blank tournament bracket to predict which teams are going to advance to the finals.
The more teams predicted correctly, the more points one will receive.
In some cases, brackets are part of a pool, competing against other people for money.
Oddsmaker.com, Sportbet.com, and docsports.com are only a few of the many legal basketball betting websites mediated in Las Vegas.
Despite it being illegal to bet on sports in Michigan, Adams and Taipalus bet anyways.
“We usually get a pool going between some friends,” Adams said. “You get 10 or 15 friends in a pool at $5 a person, you’re talking about a nice pot to win. It’s illegal, but I don’t think it’ll ever be enforced.”
It might be tough to win money this year though.
Just two known people in the country have picked their brackets correctly thus far, according to ESPN.com.
According to Adams and Taipalus, basketball education isn’t necessary for this years tournament.
“There’s been so many upsets so far in this tournament it’s ridiculous,” Adams said. “I was telling my buddy the other day a girl will guess it [the winning team] right this year just because it’s a toss up this year, and she didn’t know anything about the game.”
The tournament will continue Thursday at noon, and various times throughout the weekend.