It’s the most wonderful time of the year—for basketball fans. Most sports fans would consider March Madness to be a holiday, but unfortunately, the university doesn’t see it that way.

The men’s and women’s basketball NCAA tournaments kicked off on Thursday, with the first game starting at 11 a.m. Many students have classes during this time, which is why classes should be canceled during March Madness.

Before professors get too mad at me, let me try to explain. 

Spectators would only need to be off on the days when there are games within class hours. This means we would cancel classes for two days—the Thursday and Friday of the first round.

The rest of the games are on weekends or tip off in the late afternoon. But during the first round, there are 32 games with insane matchups in the span of two days. This means that if you go to class, you have the potential to miss the biggest upset of the tournament.   

Thursday, No. 13 seed Furman pulled out a win against No. 4 Virginia after stealing the ball to hit a three. Unfortunately, the game started a little before noon, so I wasn’t able to watch it. I have a class at that time. 

While I recognize the importance of classes and education, March Madness is a celebration that only comes around once a year. There’s nothing else quite like it. No one knows what’s going to happen. Literally, no one can predict it.

Out of the millions of brackets made, every single one of them has been busted. March Madness is one of the only times I’ve seen so many people excited about being wrong.

All of these factors contribute to my reasoning that canceling classes for two days is worth the joy and pain of March Madness.

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