We love brackets

Not everybody follows the NCAA basketball tournament that just completed the first of its three weekends. Many call it the greatest sporting event in the nation if not the entire world, although there would be a lot of debate about that.

I do know that there is a gigantic increase of interest for college basketball once "Selection Sunday" takes place and colleges around the country find themselves as part of the field of 64 (okay 65) teams trying to win a national championship. No more than 16 teams have any chance of winning the tournament but interest and optimism are high around the country.

Part of the reason, maybe a lot of the reason, is because of the bracket format the tournament takes. People love to fill out these brackets and boldly make predictions for not only who will win but which teams will beat other teams and upset the carefully seeded field. It fuels a staggering amount of interest for a sport, college basketball, that plays from October to February without making many noticing.

But throw a bracket into the mix and suddenly everybody can play along at home or at the office, including the one where I work. Brackets rule and I think its the brackets that rule, not college basketball. People love lists and they love brackets.

President Obama filled out a bracket and it became national news and was actually talked about in coaches' press conferences and on talk shows.


This time of year brackets proliferate websites and news organization because they get clicks and they generate interest. They wouldn't do them otherwise. It seems anybody can make a bracket from even the most mundane topic and it will suddenly be interesting to the human brain.

Don't believe me? I will throw out some bracket subjects and I bet by reading them you will wish they were real and that you could go and fill out the bracket. Watch.

* Best movies of all time

* Best rock albums in the last 10 years

* Best looking Pope (with picturs)

* Most important news stories in this century.

Did you get the urge to look and click? I did. I made a couple of little visual brackets to further illustrate the point. Since you are going to feel the urge to fill them out, go ahead.





And one for the ladies . . .



If you read all the way down here, I have a fun little bracket reward for you. click me. Note: The Scorpions are not an option nor are most of the bands I love like Dream Theater and Rush. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!