This is the online version of our daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. Here’s Blake Schuster.
I’m about to suggest something that is arguably the most antithetical idea to the entire concept of March Madness. Something so radical I wouldn’t blame you for just tuning me out all together. But I beg, just hear me out.
Don’t fill out a bracket for the NCAA tournament.
I know! Really, I understand what I’m asking. So let me make this request a little bit more palatable. Go to our printable men’s bracket or to our printable women’s bracket. Fill out your bracket, spend as much time as you want obsessing over each pick and then once the games start on Thursday forget about it.
The best way to enjoy March Madness is to embrace the unknown. It’s significantly harder to do so when you’re pulling for your bracket instead of just rooting for chaos. Which is why over the past few years I couldn’t tell you who I had in my Final Four or which major upsets I expected.
THE BRACKETS ARE BACK: The USA TODAY Sports Bracket Challenge is back. $1 MILLION grand prize for a perfect bracket.
Because you don’t need a bracket to tell you who to root for. You just need to hope for a good game and cheer on whichever team has the ball last. What makes March great is buzzer beaters and wild upsets and the household names who come out of nowhere. That’s what you should cheer on.
Of course, I’d be absolutely lying if I didn’t admit to one other reason I’ve enjoyed eschewing bracket season: Live betting.
Again, I know. The last thing I’m going to do is tell anyone who doesn’t want to gamble why they should. But with live betting at least I can jump on (or off) the bandwagon of whichever team has the best (or worst) vibes. It allows you to change allegiances mid-game.
Too many times during March we get so wrapped up in our own guesses that we forget to enjoy the games playing out in front of us. There’s a reason why perfect brackets seem impossible. You might not be able to nail every pick, but you can enjoy every single game.
That pit you feel in your stomach when your bracket is busted doesn’t have to exist.
Embrace chaos, reject modernity. Don’t fill out a bracket this year and see how much more fun you’ll have.
Quick Hits: NFL free agency begins! … March Madness! … Oscars! … and more.
— It’s “legal tampering” time in the NFL, so here’s one move each team should make.
— When it comes to March Madness, we’ve got you covered with a printable men’s bracket, with the four teams with the hardest path on the men’s side and decisions the committee got wrong.
— On the women’s side: A printable bracket, along with some Cinderella candidates and the winners and losers from the bracket reveal
— The Oscars were last night, and there was so much to take in: A donkey on stage, a new Andrew Garfield meme … but more importantly, some incredible speeches from winners like Jamie Lee Curtis, one from Ke Huy Quan and more.