What's The Deal with "March Madness?" As I sit fixated to ESPN’s coverage of “March Madness,” I couldn’t help but wonder why Americans are suddenly obsessed with college basketball when the brackets come out. Oddly enough, I find myself apart of the vogue and I am firmly aware of my prospects to come out with an untainted bracket (I am already screwed). “March Madness” reaffirms one of America’s grandest pastimes, the art of gambling.
Besides rioting in large mobs, Americans cannot resist gambling, as it is part of our moniker to bet collateral that we do not have on the off chance that we actually succeed (writing checks that our asses cannot cash). The brackets were spurred forth last Sunday and to no one's surprise, we have gobbled them up like a blue whale feeding on plankton.
ESPN has their own little bracket challenge (which I entered to no avail) and they claim over 3 million people entered the contest. People, that is around 1/300th of the population, a majority of which are probably men, but still that is a considerable portion of the population.
One cannot forget the countless office pools that boast grand petty grand prizes of $100 or so. Over 10% of Americans participate in these office pools. Surprisingly, the $5 entrance fee is well worth the off chance of winning that immaculate load of cash that will in all likeliness, be blown at the local pub moments after winning it.
What is the off chance of producing a perfect bracket? 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to 1, which in Lehman’s terms means 9 quintillion to one. If you do not like those odds, you have no business participating in “March Madness.” The FBI estimates that over $2.5 billion in illegal funds will be wagered on “March Madness,” but on the bright side 4% of that sum is wagered legally in Nevada.
Besides rioting in large mobs, Americans cannot resist gambling, as it is part of our moniker to bet collateral that we do not have on the off chance that we actually succeed (writing checks that our asses cannot cash). The brackets were spurred forth last Sunday and to no one's surprise, we have gobbled them up like a blue whale feeding on plankton.
ESPN has their own little bracket challenge (which I entered to no avail) and they claim over 3 million people entered the contest. People, that is around 1/300th of the population, a majority of which are probably men, but still that is a considerable portion of the population.
One cannot forget the countless office pools that boast grand petty grand prizes of $100 or so. Over 10% of Americans participate in these office pools. Surprisingly, the $5 entrance fee is well worth the off chance of winning that immaculate load of cash that will in all likeliness, be blown at the local pub moments after winning it.
What is the off chance of producing a perfect bracket? 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to 1, which in Lehman’s terms means 9 quintillion to one. If you do not like those odds, you have no business participating in “March Madness.” The FBI estimates that over $2.5 billion in illegal funds will be wagered on “March Madness,” but on the bright side 4% of that sum is wagered legally in Nevada.
Besides risking arrest from the FBI and forgetting the massive odds of losing, which any Texas Hold Em’ player would drop dead upon hearing, the answer to my question is simple; gambling has systematically been built into our genes over the past two-hundred years (I am sure science would refute it, but who cares)!
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