March Madness is Underway in S.H.S.

From March 16th to April 3rd, the national event of March Madness will have people cheering and tearing up their brackets.

March Madness is the nickname of the national college men’s basketball tournament, where 68 college teams compete in a single elimination competition. While that’s nice and all, the real fun comes from the March Madness Pools, or “Brackets,” that people make. Brackets are predictions people make regarding the outcome of each game, and the aim of the game is to guess as many games as possible.

While it all seems rather simple, the chances of getting a “perfect bracket,” or predicting the outcome of every game, comes out to almost 1 in 9 quintillion. It’s a goal so impossible, that billionaire Warren Buffett said that if anyone was to achieve a perfect bracket, he would personally send them a million dollars.

The idea of how improbable it is to gain a “perfect bracket” doesn't faze students at Sparta High School though, who have begun to use up every second of their free time to check in on which games are going on and who is winning. I was in the media center and found two groups of students watching different games on the M.R.C. computers, so I decided to ask one of the groups why they love to go mad for March Madness.

Danny Smith and Richie McDonald were more than willing to answer that question, with Danny stating, “I’m a big basketball fan and it’s a great competition.” When he was asked who he thought would win the tournament, he rooted for U.N.C., “All the way.”

Richie commented, “I just like the sport of basketball, it’s the most fun to watch.” He went on to say that, “Probably one of the most fun things is to make a bracket.” When asked who he though will win, his answer was the same as Danny’s, U.N.C.

As the day progressed, I found that more and more people were watching certain basketball games and checking player stats. In fact, after filming “The Sparta Scoop,” the broadcasting team and I were allowed to watch some games while doing our work. While I personally don’t watch many basketball games, I find it thrilling, as many others do, to see who will come out on top as the best college basketball team in the country.