March Madness has influenced the way sports fans love the game of college basketball. According to a new study sponsored by SOASTA software company, 74 percent would check on basketball games during breaks, 61 percent while eating, 27 when commuting to/from work, 14 percent during conference calls, 12 percent during meetings, and 3 percent while their boss was talking.
This new study shows this year that sports fans love March Madness.
Regardless of which universities or colleges that athletes are playing for, big or small, sports fans pick their own favorite teams in hope to defeat the opposing teams in order to advance to the next round. What makes March Madness so unique is that the NCAA Tournament is a product of the one-and-done format, which comes fundamentally from unpredictability. Therefore, sports fans will never know who will eventually win the next rounds or the NCAA Tournament title.
After the selection committee formally completed the 68 teams within the NCAA Tournament bracket, the world becomes involved in an interactive bracket, including business professionals, journalists, celebrities, and politics like US President Barack Obama who recently filled out the Presidential Bracket with ESPN’s Andy Katz last Wednesday. We can’t deny the fact that Obama and other significant individuals have the similar level of interest as other sports fans.
Mike Bianchi, a sportswriter of the Orlando Sentinel, explained two simple reasons why sports fans love the March Madness:
“I believe people (sports fans) love March Madness for two reasons: The brackets and pools, for one, have allowed people to gamble on the tournament in a legal way. Secondly, I believe the drama of the one-and-done format with many Cinderella teams from small conferences having a chance to advance intrigues the American public.”
In an effort to understand that college basketball is all about the odd (not even), the NCAA Tournament bracket is a great way for sports fans to participate in March Madness by filling out the interactive bracket on ESPN or Yahoo, and allowing us to predict which team will win the NCAA Tournament. It creates sports fans to get involved in the NCAA Tournament and stay closer to the game of college basketball.
With the drama of the one-and-done format, it is exhilarating to the fans each year. They watch as there are a full of upsets, mostly in the first and second round, and the underdog teams are attempting to live up to the hype. For instance, the 14 seed Mercer upsets the 3 seed Duke yesterday afternoon. After the victory, the media is generating the buzz around the world on the digital newspapers and social media. The American public loves it. The competition is constantly amazing!
At the same time, the fans understand that the NCAA Tournament is practically never guaranteed to result–or dance happily. The fans will anticipate having a joyful or emotion experience. Like German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche quoted, “To live is to suffer, but to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.” After all, they must be prepared to learn how to live from a victory and a loss. It is a part of the culture and tradition.
Most fans are using social media, such as Twitter, to connect and interact with online audience regarding the game of college basketball. The fans are sharing their opinions and arguing directly with online audience about what is happening in the NCAA Tournament. Laura Petrecca, a writer of the USA Today, stated that, according to Twitter, within the 72 hours since Selection Sunday, sports fans tweeted more than 135,000 using #MarchMadness. It has become a brand of college sports.
Sports fans simply love March Madness not only because it is widely popular, but because it allows them to participate in March Madness by filling out the interactive bracket on Internet, using social media channels to interact with others, and watching college basketball games on television or Internet. March Madness is like a storytelling. There is no question that the March Madness theme is entertaining the fans and NCAA Tournament is the best tournament in the sports world. By far.
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