Next to opening weekend of football and the last day of my kids' summer break from school, the NCAA Tournament is hands down my most favorite time of year.When else can you say it is perfectly acceptable for anyone to adjust meeting schedules around their alma mater game times, openly wager with co-workers, or loudly shout/groan/cheer from their cubicles when they watch a live streaming (network debilitating) feed of some teenager (from a school they know nothing about) hitting a buzzer beater to win a game? There's a reason they call it 'Madness' -- and I love it.People can say it kills corporate productivity, but I say it does the opposite: the NCAA Tournament makes work fun and brings people from all parts of an organization together. Maybe as multi-week sporting events go, the Olympics can come close. But with no shameless betting and mostly taped delayed action, it comes a distant second (and only happens every two years). Face it: even the most introverted head of HR, buttoned up controller, nerdy engineer or demure executive assistant can instantly turn into a raving lunatic if they called the 13 seed upsetting the 3 seed in the first round. And who doesn't like seeing that?So if anyone wants to know how to make America great again, I say change the channels on all of the office flat screens from Channel 1/CNBC/Bloomberg/local cable news for just a few days during March and let the people enjoy the Madness. The world won't end. With that, good luck to everyone who filled out brackets. If you are really into the Madness, I suggest you check out Nate Silver's Five Thirty Eight site with real time predictions and probabilities of game winners. Cool stuff. And yeah, please also check out the stories below I found (and wrote) and shared especially for you. Enjoy!XOXODave
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Friends of Dave: It's March Madness
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Next to opening weekend of football and the last day of my kids' summer break from school, the NCAA Tournament is hands down my most favorite time of year.When else can you say it is perfectly acceptable for anyone to adjust meeting schedules around their alma mater game times, openly wager with co-workers, or loudly shout/groan/cheer from their cubicles when they watch a live streaming (network debilitating) feed of some teenager (from a school they know nothing about) hitting a buzzer beater to win a game? There's a reason they call it 'Madness' -- and I love it.People can say it kills corporate productivity, but I say it does the opposite: the NCAA Tournament makes work fun and brings people from all parts of an organization together. Maybe as multi-week sporting events go, the Olympics can come close. But with no shameless betting and mostly taped delayed action, it comes a distant second (and only happens every two years). Face it: even the most introverted head of HR, buttoned up controller, nerdy engineer or demure executive assistant can instantly turn into a raving lunatic if they called the 13 seed upsetting the 3 seed in the first round. And who doesn't like seeing that?So if anyone wants to know how to make America great again, I say change the channels on all of the office flat screens from Channel 1/CNBC/Bloomberg/local cable news for just a few days during March and let the people enjoy the Madness. The world won't end. With that, good luck to everyone who filled out brackets. If you are really into the Madness, I suggest you check out Nate Silver's Five Thirty Eight site with real time predictions and probabilities of game winners. Cool stuff. And yeah, please also check out the stories below I found (and wrote) and shared especially for you. Enjoy!XOXODave