It's that time of year again; almost 22 million brackets are filled out with the hopes of achieving a perfect 63/63 pick rate for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. That means millions all over the world will get emotionally crushed or destroyed by bracket busting. Cliche as it may sound, I despise the March Madness bracket challenge and everything it stands for and believe it should be discontinued.
In 2024, I sadly admit I filled out brackets — 8 to be exact — in various pools and groups of the social circles I walk in. I carefully crafted each one, believing deep down inside that this could be the one, the one to go all the way, and I would be the college kid genius who had done the impossible and never seen before. That dream lasted about 2 and a half days as I watched 14th seed Oakland upset 3rd seed Kentucky in a heartbreaker, literally melting my soul.
And I know for a fact that everyone else somewhere, deep down, has a little bit of hope that the bracket they have filled out will go all the way. From the die-hard fans who constantly watch college basketball all the way to the average Joe working an office job and looking to do well in the group pool, everyone, to some degree, gets their hopes up.
To some extent, I understand that the bracket challenge gives people a fun little break from their mundane and boring lives. We all live in the middle of the dreary March days. But at the same time, it's like buying a Powerball ticket, except it reels you in a lot more by being able to personally pick the teams you think will win. And when your bracket inevitably gets busted, what's the point in watching anymore? You've simply got no dog in this fight. The disappointment from your picks, which at one point seemed like masterful chess moves but now resemble more so a baby slapping a keyboard, sullies the excitement and thrill of the remainder of great basketball to be played.
The other thing that hurts an inflated basketball ego like mine is watching your mom, who, you know for a fact, had your father help out with her bracket, skyrocket to the top of a large pool and win it all. That's right, your mother, who routinely falls asleep while watching any organized sport on television and refers to any game as "sportsball,” has somehow made 25/32 picks correct to start your family bracket pool. And best believe she is going to let your sorry fanatic college basketball watching butt know how far ahead she is in the pool standings.
My solution? Get rid of the whole damn bracket challenge. Without the added pressure of filling out a bracket, we can just watch some good basketball and appreciate some decent upsets. We can root for the 15th or 16th seeds because we didn’t understandably pick the 1st or 2nd seeds to comfortably beat them. Not to say it wouldn't be cool to see someone beat impossible odds and fill out a perfect bracket, but it would also be pleasant to know that no one will ever fill out a flawless bracket. Leave perfection to the imagination, and maybe rest easy and stress-free with the thought that it will always remain that way.
Drew Haughn is a freshman studying communications at Ohio University. Please note that the opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect those of The Post. Want to talk to Drew about his article? Email him at dh061222@ohio.edu.
