I have not filled out an NCAA March Madness bracket since 2016. And I don’t miss it one bit. I was once a regular fantasy sports participant, so it is natural for me to hop onto Yahoo or some other platform to make my bracket picks every March.
It’s a tradition many of us love. But it’s something I just didn’t get done that year, and I haven’t bothered ever since.
So no bracket for me. And I actually feel pretty darn good about not having a bracket full of teams and picks to clutter my feeble brain.
Here’s why:
My Bracket Is Uninformed
The most obvious reason I am okay with giving up making bracket picks is the fact that I don’t watch basketball. Not professional basketball. Not college basketball or even youth basketball. That being the case, I have no personal stake in who ends up at the center of the bracket when all is said and done. I don’t have a team in the fight, so me filling out a bracket is purely to see if I can guess better than others – and I cannot.
So there’s that, too.
Did you ever consider the possibility that filling out a bracket could actually be hostile toward God? Neither did – until now. Photo Credit: AdrianoSetimo via Compfight cc
My Bracket “Obligates” My Time to Unproductive Things
Drilling down a bit further, and getting closer to the heart of the matter, filling out a bracket pulls me into a massive time-suck. I start listening to sports radio, watching ESPN and doing everything I can to gleam some “insider” insight on what teams I should choose for my bracket picks.
Then, when the games start, I get pulled me into games. I don’t know about the teams, players, coaches, match-ups, etc. But I watch the games anyway. They are basketball games I do not and nor will I ever truly care about. I waste a lot of time on nonsense.
That’s time I could have put towards other things. You see, all that time could be used more productively. Each minute I say yes to bracket matters, I am saying no to spending time with family, reading, writing, relaxing, or preparing and other things. And then I get mad when the stolen time has detracted me from those matters.
Quit something.
Yes, quit something. Bob Goff does it EVERY SINGLE WEEK!!! Yeah. Bob Goff quits something every week. It’s not to get attention or simply because he’s looking for a way out of things. Instead…
It’s to give yourself room to grow and to give God room to work. The patterns of life can weigh down and hold back. Quitting things forces you forward to explore new opportunities, to try things you wouldn’t have time for otherwise and to fill your life with things that are fresh, different and dangerous. Read more at Relevant Magazine
A Bracket Can Be Hostile Toward God
And here’s the final point about why I am content to do a no-go on a bracket. It’s perhaps the most frightening and painful to admit. What can start as a “friendly bracket wager” can often lead to a broader pattern of sin. First of all, gambling is a serious addiction for many folks.
Being someone who is prone to addiction and obsessive compulsive tendencies – a trait passed through many generations – I have always shied from placing money on things because I am keenly aware that I am weak and most likely would mortgage my entire livelihood simply for the thrill of “just one more wager.”
Whether this is true for you or not, I don’t know. Regardless, though, anything that leads your attention astray has the potential for causing greater detraction of other key life resources. It could be money. It could be sleep (either by staying up too late to watch the game or worrying about where you will come up with the money you just lost). It could be loss of appetite due to anxiety – it could be over-eating due to anxiety. I could give many other examples but I think you get the idea. And here’s my point.
God wants you at your best, so stop taking that away from him. #RefiningLife Share on XNow, of course, I am merely an idiot with a blog and it’s just an opinion. But here’s what the Bible says:
For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. – Romans 8:7-8 (ESV)
I also like how The Message says it:
Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn’t pleased at being ignored. – Romans 8:7-8 (MSG)
So there you have it folks. No more brackets for me. So, that leaves the next inevitable question:
Does this mean no more fantasy sports, at all?
Right now, I don’t know the answer. What I do know, though, I’ve quit filling out a bracket, so perhaps quitting all fantasy sports is something I need to think more about.
Perhaps you should think about that, too.