March Madness: Incurable Disease?
Astral
Facts, March 2016
Astral: (Theosophy) Consisting of, belonging
to, or designating, a kind of supersensible substance alleged to be next above
the tangible world in refinement; as, astral spirits; astral bodies of persons;
astral current.
March Madness: Incurable Disease?
Humanities Scientists have interests
that extend beyond the classical forms of literature, art, and philosophy, for
drama, film, and sports as entertainment also fall within our purveyance. While the Natural Scientist may ponder how
the final minute in a basketball or football game can actually last as long as
ten minutes or more, the Humanities Scientist only revels in the splendor of
life not controlled by the clock or other technology-imposed concepts that
squeeze the essence out of the vintage of life with a mechanical whine!
No clearer evidence of this can be
found than the national frenzy occurring every year around this time with the “March
Madness” associated with college basketball.
It has been estimated that nationally over four million hours of
productivity are usually lost during the time of the national basketball
tournaments as workers are distracted by the events on the hardwoods.
In the past, workers had the radio
on, with regular distractions stimulated by the emotions in the announcers’
voices in the background. Local and
national television only exacerbated these distractions, adding eyes to the
ears and bringing the distractions to the foreground. The Internet spiked this even further, as
people began to watch the scenes in their cubicle workstations.
Supervisors and managers then began to patrol
the hallways and cubicle aisles to crack the whip and get the workers back on
track. (Several of websites, such as
CBSSports.com, ESPN.com, and even NCAA.com offered a “boss button” in the
corner of the screen. A quick click at
the approach of a supervisor, and the screen changed to a complex multi-colored
spread sheet.)
However, more
recent research has shown that those lost man-hours (not so many “woman-hours”
have been lost in the past, but that is changing with further emphasis on the
Women’s Tournament) are actually more than doubled in later productivity as a
result of the “bonding” and camaraderie created as workers share “the ecstasy
of victory and the agony of defeat” as their teams soar and/or crash and
burn. Here are the poll results from last year: http://officeteam.rhi.mediaroom.com/2015-03-04-Should-You-Celebrate-March-Madness-At-Work
This is intensified as the “office
pools” stimulate interest in even the obscure match-ups not involving the
individuals’ own alma mater or hated cross-town or intra state rival, for each
game means points added or lost toward bragging rights in the ‘hood.
However, more than just bragging
rights are involved. This year it has
been estimated that nationally approximately $9 billion will be involved from
the twenty-five cent office pool antes up to the open match book bets in places
like Las Vegas and discreet off-shore financial cachets.
Because our mission in the two-year
colleges is to prepare students to transfer to appropriate four-year colleges
and universities or directly to the workplace, for the past 15 years in
conjunction with the Popular Culture class I have taught, I have offered my
students an opportunity to determine if they are “Smarter Than A Teacher” by
taking the March Madness Tournament Challenge.
In addition to teachers and students, the “pool” also is open to anyone
else in the greater community in order to “randomize” the population sample
involved. (Minimum age is 13, so the
supposition is you have to be smarter than a 5th grader! However, you can still get advice from a 5th
grader!)
(You will
notice that President Obama reveals his bracket picks each year as well as
indicated by the link from last year. Here is the link from last year, when he predicted
the victory by the University of Kentucky (Duke beat Kentucky in the final):
Are You Smarter Than A
Teacher?
Now is a chance to prove it! Non-credit activity: English, 101, 105, 126, 128, 185, and 246.
March Madness “Sanity” Test
Go online to the ESPN Fantasy game link and select the home link:
Click on the “Create a Bracket Now” link and follow
the directions to register to participate.
Once you create
your entry, you can join the group. Our group is Green River. (Teachers are asked to put a “T” in
their entry.)
Sunday, March 13 was the day for
the choosing of the 64 teams for the college basketball tournament. Between then and the morning of Thursday,
March 17th (when the first
game in the tournament starts) you can fill out your predictions regarding the
winners of each round of the tournament.
(Note: You must fill out
all the information including the final winner before the first game
starts at 9:00 PDT on the morning of the 17th.)
You may compose as
many as ten different versions of how you predict the tournament will
end. After you register the first entry,
click on the “my brackets” link again to set up an additional entry.
You will be
competing against a group of teachers, members of the community, and your
classmates to see how many are smarter than the teachers!!
Our group has no cash incentive
per se, but we are part of the 600,000 entries submitted nationwide. Seven years ago a sophomore high school
student from Alabama had the best result in the nation, winning $10,000. This year the top prize (in the nation) is $10,000
from Amazon and a trip to Hawaii. In our
group, top prize is bragging rights in the ‘hood. à Almost
the same!
Note: Since 2001, students have finished first eight times
(including one female student, so this isn’t only a male domain), teachers have
won four times and members of the community (including my wife one year!) have
also won three times.
Walter Lowe
Astral Facts is a somewhat regular presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices during the academic year.
Astral Facts is a somewhat regular presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices during the academic year.
