Blog written by Josh Culver
It happens every year. Right around this time the birds start chirping again, the sun starts melting the snow, temperatures begin to rise and just about every male in America is thinking the same thing — ‘How the hell can I get away with taking Thursday and Friday off to watch the NCAA Tournament?’.
For large businesses it can be troubling, but for small and medium-size businesses, the NCAA Tournament can be borderline crippling, especially in today’s troubling economy. The amount of time in offices all over the country spent filling out brackets and researching teams can really hurt revenue and production. Couple that with the slow of business when people time off to watch the games at home, and it can make for the time of year that businesses hate. CBS, which handles the televising of all the games, has recently made the games viewable via the computer and internet connection to bring up to the minute scores into the office, making some business owners install new software to keep employees on task.
However, with all the stress the NCAA Tournament can cause business owners, some believe that office betting pools from the tournament are actually good for morale. They create a common interest between fractions of offices that would otherwise have no reason to communicate. The NCAA can also create a bond between companies and their clients as well, by building stronger relationships, and giving each something to discuss outside of business.
So maybe we sports enthusiast should be proud of our office pools and our evaluations of No. 5 seeds vs. No. 12 seeds! Maybe we can hold our heads just a little higher knowing that it’s not a waste of time researching what the kid from