A Mom's Life Top 5 A Mom’s Life Top Five | Get your March Madness on

By Meredith Sinclair
Wednesday, February 24, 2010

For two weeks this month, 64 college basketball teams will shoot it out to become the NCAA men's Division 1 champion. This crazy tournament, lovingly known as March Madness, is definitely worth a watch. Here's why:

1. Bracketology brings families together. During the two-week tournament it's all about the bracket (the flow chart of each school's "seed" position and who's playing whom). Download the chart online, keep track of how the games are going down and fill your nights full of uneducated predictions and the study of "bracketology."

2. Underdogs are the coolest. March Madness match-ups are the ultimate in David vs. Goliath smack-downs. Watching small schools take on those Big 10 giants, your kids will see living proof that sometimes the little guys and their trusty sling shots really do come out on top. Even if you're not a basketball fan when it all starts, it's completely cool to unabashedly jump on the bandwagon and root for the underdogs.

3. "One Shining Moment" will make you cry. As the bracket whittles down to the Sweet 16, the Elite Eight and the Final Four, emotions begin to run high. These boys are living their athletic dreams right before your eyes. And when it's all over, they show a video montage, set to the song "One Shining Moment," that will provide you as good a cry as the ending of "Beaches."

4. It's beautifully unpredictable. Laundry day is Wednesday, your kid forgets his library book every Thursday and your highlights need to be touched-up every four to six weeks. Much of life rolls along like clockwork, but when it comes to March Madness-and its single elimination set-up-it's anyone's game.

5. Athletic college boys in shorts. Enough said.