Kelly Riegler | Critical Mass Chicago

I’ve been a fan of college basketball since I was in sixth grade.  And yes, it may have started because I thought Christian Laettner was cute, but it’s stuck with me.  And thankfully, I’ve evolved into loving the game and not just the cute college boys.

College basketball (the tournament in particular) has been a way to bring people together.  A connector.  It gives my Dad and I something to bond over (he adopted my love for Duke back in sixth grade, although his reasoning was far more intelligent than mine), something for my office-mates to talk about and fodder for constant Facebook and Twitter updates.  While the sport hasn’t changed all that much– it’s still as exciting as it was back in 1992 for that infamous Duke/Kentucky game the way we experience it certainly has.  For me, it’s become extraordinary.

Take for example the office pool.  Back in the day, the brackets would be set on a Sunday night, and printed in the newspaper on Monday.  You’d cut out the bracket, and hand-write (yep- HAND-WRITE) your choices.  You’d take it to the office, make a photocopy, and turn it in to the pool manager, keeping the original for yourself.  That poor person would spend his/her weekends tallying (BY HAND) the scores and providing an update on Monday.  Talk about a horrible way to spend the weekend.  I promise- I would not have been the bracket manager if it involved doing math.
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