As the days get longer and the flowers be­gin to bloom, it can only mean one thing, March Madness. The NCAA tournament is the most exciting time of the year for any college sports fan.

The No. 1 seeds, the sleeper picks and those Cinderella teams who make it to the dance and steal the show are all the reasons we love college sports.

The NCAA tournament takes over peo­ples’ lives around this time each year as they begin to fill out their brackets and place their bets on any upset. Most people take their brackets very seriously as they challenge their friends and coworkers to see who can have the best bracket.

Some people have such confidence in their team that they fill their brackets out backwards and start with their team already in the championship game, others think of it truly as science. I mean there is Bracketol­ogy, the study of brackets, and Bracketolo­gists who have apparently earned their de­gree in it.

There is just a certain feel in college sports; it’s easier to root for them because you know they’re playing for pride not a paycheck. At the end of the game, as the last second half court heave bounces off the rim, you know those are tears of true sorrow.

The NCAA tournament or the “Big dance” is a stage where legends are born, and can be a stepping stone to greatness for some people, as we saw with Davidson’s Stephen Curry two years ago. As well as, DeWayne Wade’s coming out party with Marquette in the 2003 NCAA Tournament.

But, the best part of March Madness (be­sides Dick Vitale’s high pitch voice) is the parody; at any given moment David can beat Goliath. A 15 seed can beat a two seed; a 12 seed can beat a three seed; and (al­though highly unlikely) a 16 seed can beat a one seed. Anything goes in the field of 68, where anything can and probably will hap­pen. So fill out your brackets, and I’ll see you at the “Big dance” baby!