It’s March.

This is arguably the greatest month in all of sports; consisting of a three week battle of 68 teams in a winner take all contest to be named college basketball’s champion. This contest causes our nation’s economy to take a small dip every time it comes around due to the lack of work productivity. Vasectomies rise fifty percent during this time so men can stay home and watch basketball, and around fifteen percent of working fans will take a sick day on opening Thursday and/or Friday.

In 2014, the 32 games in the opening Round of 64 were watched by an average of 2.1 million fans, and the championship game was viewed by 21.3 million people. The last thirteen games of the tournament last year were watched by around 138 million viewers.

Bracket pools become the main focus throughout family, friends, schools, work places, life. A simple five or ten dollar entry can end up with you walking away with over five hundred bucks if you make the right picks. People will spend upwards of fifty dollars on multiple entries in different pools hoping to strike it rich.

The tournament itself is the only reason why college basketball is a profitable sport; as only it and college football actually make money for the NCAA. A country-wide event consisting of 14 host sites; there isn’t a person in the country that isn’t in some vicinity of a game being played at one point. Merchandise sales explode at this point in time as now every fan is the school’s number one fan and has to prove it.

People stress over games, brackets, bets, and buckets. People lose years off their lives due to this tournament. And this, is why March is mad.