MARCH MADNESS?

Why the experts say madness will lead to recession

By: Dan Schultz

Edited by: Alexis Kowaleski and Trisha VanKoughnett

It’s that time of year again, the bitter days of winter slowly surrender to spring’s encouraging sun and green landscapes. It’s time to clean out the dust bunnies, wash the neglected car, and engineer the most calculated bracket possible.

It’s time for March Madness.

“We tend to go all out for games, even when we are sitting at home with face paint, pompoms and flags,” Ashley Malisa shyly admits.

Malisa follows every National Collegiate Athletic Association men’s basketball game.

But she is a rarity in some cases—many fans solely jump on the March Madness bandwagon, ignoring the prior season.

“Basketball has too many games,” CMU senior Matt Terman said.

The NCAA men’s basketball season spans six months and includes 341 teams competing for 1 of 65 seeds in the single elimination tournament.

“There really isn't any reason to watch it during the regular season,” Adrian senior Kyle Cessna said. Cessna is only concerned with one thing every year: the little guy.

“I’ll try to pick the underdog in most cases… everyone deserves a chance,” Cessna said.

Experts predict corporations are taking their chances with employees distracted with March Madness—a distraction that could cause a recession, believe it or not.

In a recent article titled “Will March Madness Lead to Recession?”, Chicago-based consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas claims the three weeks of March Madness will cost the economy $1.7 billion.

Co-workers can catch an upset special from the comfort of their cubicle thanks to CBSSports.com. The numbers are maddening, too.

In 2007, college basketball fans viewed 2.6 million hours of the games online, up from 2.1 million hours for the 2006 tourney. CBS predicts a huge boost this year, too.

CBS does offer instructions for company’s IT departments to shut down access to live webcasts. Though this is alongside a download for a “boss button”—a button that pops up a dummy spreadsheet and hides the game instantly.

“I’m not surprised—it's like a month of the Super Bowl for college basketball lovers,” Robyn Martin said in response to the article's bold prediction.

“It's a great time for fans and family to stand behind their teams.”