Have You Filled Out Your Brackets Yet?

It's time for the activity that reduces workplace productivity every March.

It's madness, as we all know.

The office and workplace predictions for the NCAA Basketball Tournament get a lot of people going, in fact enough people to make it almost an industry of its own.

The Los Angeles Times ran a story that quoted a survey showing the tournament costs American companies something like $134 million in lost wages, as employees who should or could be working watch basketball to see how the outcomes affect their standing in the office pools.

We had a boss once who all but outlawed the office pool, but I had called it quits even before that. I had been the winner of the grand prize of $37 (big bucks here) a few years earlier, and I haven't gotten involved since. So it's been more than 20 years for me. And you can imagine the size of the group that time, since we all put up five bucks to get in.

You see, I like to win, but I hate to lose.

And besides, how could a die-hard Jackrabbit like me ever pick another team to win, where it's the first round, the Sweet 16 or (stay with me here) the Final Four?