After 48 games, my bracket is all messed up and I am guessing yours is too. Regardless if I had Nevada going to the sweet-16 or Ohio State losing in the championship, I am still going to watch and enjoy the tournament.

One of the reasons the NCAA men’s basketball tournament is one of the best sports events during the year is because of the so-called bracketology. It does not surprise me that people who love sports fill out brackets, research them extensively and put more effort into them than work. But the reason the brackets and thus the tournament, are so popular is because normal everyday people fill out brackets as well.

What some leagues have figured out while others have not is that the causal fan is a huge reason why some sports are succeeding and some are not.

Let’s look at the NFL. Every Sunday a lot of people play fantasy football. While a lot of them are sports junkies, a good amount of them are just playing for fun. When people are involved with the sport, even if it is just for fun, they are more inclined to watch and enjoy the game.

This process will get more people to watch the games and actually learn about them and maybe inspire them to buy merchandise and attend some games.

The same goes for the NCAA men’s tournament. Not everyone who fills out a bracket watches a lot of college basketball before March. But when the brackets come, people love to fill them out at work and play for bragging rights.

This causal fan involvement is a big reason why the NFL and March Madness have done so well when it comes to ratings. This is what the NBA is missing, that and consistent fundamentals.

The NBA is only exciting to many during the playoffs or Kobe vs. Shaq. Sports columnists have said that the NBA regular season is unwatchable and to an extent, I agree with them. While I enjoy watching the team unity of the Detroit Pistons or the San Antonio Spurs, a lot of casual sports fans do not. The NBA season is too long for the casual fans to play fantasy and there is no one and your done attitude so there is no need to watch the regular season until the end.

The same goes for baseball. Unless you are a huge baseball fan you are not going to watch all 162 games. The season is too long to play fantasy and there is no live and die feeling to it.

But when talking about the NFL or March Madness, where every game can determine someone’s season, the audience is more captivated, especially when the marketing is done properly.

Justin Satzman can be reached at sports_sundial@csun.edu.