Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Madness

File this one under March Madness as you scramble to determine whether Stephen F. Austin has a prayer against Syracuse.

Here’s a couple of questions to mull over as you pore over those precious brackets, the backbone of all this “madness” surrounding the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

Name me one player on the Stephen F. Austin team? In lieu of that, how about telling me where Stephen F. Austin is located?

Thought so.

Doesn’t much matter. Until noon Thursday, when the tournament actually starts, there will likely be just as much attention paid to filling out NCAA brackets as to the question of whether AIG executives should return those bonuses.

And the money that changes hands is about the same.

It is believed that 25 to 37 million Americans filled out a bracket pool last year. And in general those who study such things tell us that each time a pool player checks their brackets or a new score, it amounts to 13.5 minutes. Of course, a lot of that time occurs at the office. Not exactly contributing to the bottom line, unless you’re talking about your own checkbook.

The total financial impact of the NCAA Tournament, both in money spent and productivity lost, is in the billions.

Talk about madness.

And it’s about to get even wilder.

Both New Jersey and Delaware are toying with the idea of legalizing sports gambling. It’s a sure-fire remedy every time the economy has a hiccup.

Of course what is going on now is a bit more than a hiccup, this is more like a full-throated belch. Even New Jersey casinos have been affected. Their “take” is down, in no small part because of the bad economy and competition from new slots parlors in Pennsylvania.

New Jersey officials are toying with legalized sports betting as a way to prop up those ailing casinos.

Delaware also is looking at adding sports wagering to its array of legalized gambling.

You have to wonder how long before our own gambling guru here in the Keystone State, Gov. Ed Rendell, jumps on the sports gambling bandwagon.

Hey, he’s already pushed slots betting through. Now he’s proposing legalized video poker in bars.

Sports betting? You’d think it would be a slam dunk.

Madness. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to finish off my brackets.

By the way, Stephen F. Austin is located in Nacogdoches, Texas. And I have them upsetting Syracuse.

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