March Madness: Myths and Facts

The numbers don’t lie. You will miss work.

The numbers don’t lie. You will miss work.

Photo: Greg Bartram / US Presswire | Licensed to Alpha Media Group 2012


‘Tis the season for brackets and balls as the NCAA b-ball tournament heats up. All articles about March Madness must use the phrase “heats up” as part of the Patriot Act. The sporty folks over at Yahoo! have put together a fantastic site for March Madness, and shared their fun facts with us, some of which contradict our own March Madness myths.


Here’s what we learned.

Yahoo! Sports Fact: “Fans spend on average 75 minutes filling out their brackets – nearly twice as long as a regulation college basketball game. Men spend on average nearly 30 minutes more on their bracket selections than women.”

Maxim Myth: If you fill out the bracket reverse alphabetically, you will always win. Always.

Yahoo! Sports Fact:  “Fans fill out an average of 4.5 brackets, with 14% saying they complete six or more.”

Maxim Myth: Gambling is illegal in most states, but the state laws only apply to the ground. So if you bet on basketball whilst jumping or riding in a helicopter, you should be fine.

Yahoo! Sports Fact: “1 in 7 fans have called in sick to work to watch the NCAA tournament.”

Maxim Myth: 4 in 7 fans have called in sick because they don’t want to deal with being ridiculed for their horrible, stupid bracket.

Yahoo! Sports Fact: “7% of fans have been in trouble for watching the NCAA tournament at work.”

Maxim Myth: 7% of fans said, “Oh yeah. I was totally just watching the game. My bad. Won’t happen again, sir.” when in fact they were reading/writing Downton Abbey fan fiction.

Yahoo! Sports Fact:  “Asked which team they’d most like to see win this year’s national championship, fans said, in order: Ohio State, Duke, Kentucky and North Carolina.”

Maxim Myth: Putting “Hogwarts” and “Starfleet” on your bracket is always funny and worth losing the pool.

Check out Yahoo!’s complete March Madness coverage here!