The calendar has reached March, which means it’s time for sports heaven. That’s right, folks, March Madness is upon us, and I couldn’t be more excited.

Now, I’ve written before about how much I love college football bowl season, and those days watching bowls are some of my favorite of the year. College football is my favorite sport, and while its current system has flaws the size of Charlie Sheen’s ego, it still creates one hell of a bowl season.

That said, nothing can top the excitement of March Madness. Think about it–what other sporting event can consume an entire month (or more) and keep people interested enough to name the whole month for it? Where the month of October has lost some of its luster as the World Series moves into November, March Madness is as mad as ever even though the Final Four is in April.

Why does America catch a case of March Madness every year? Because the NCAA tournament (and the conference tournaments leading up to it) provide the perfect blend of amazing performances, enormous mistakes, thrilling finishes, explosive controversies, ground-shattering upsets and, perhaps most of all, the best system in the sports world for fan picking.

While you may think that I am overstating the importance of betting by saying that bracket competitions drive March Madness, stop and consider how you view the NCAA tournament. I’d be willing to bet that 99 percent of people who watch the tournament are in at least one bracket-picking competition. And the other 1 percent (don’t worry, not you, Rick Neuheisel) consists of people whose jobs don’t allow them to. It wouldn’t be March Madness if you weren’t waiting with bated breath, clutching your bracket in prayer as your Cinderella pick inbounded the ball with a chance to topple that No. 3 seed.

The great thing about March Madness is the way it invites competition, even among those of us with no ability to influence the outcome of any of the games (I’m looking at you, baseball fans. You can wear your hat upside-down and put on the same socks you’ve worn all season, but it won’t make your team do any better). The looks of utter devastation or unimagined joy on the faces of the players are matched only by the looks of fans across the nation that correctly picked that upset.

If you’re new to college basketball, you may think I’m kidding, but I still remember correctly guessing Vermont over Syracuse six years ago. The pride of that pick was one of the first things I shared with a guy on my freshman hallway who ended up becoming one of my best friends (not to mention the editor in chief of this paper).

Of course, for every great win, there’s an agonizing defeat (or in my case, many agonizing defeats). If Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts hadn’t done their best Chuck Hayes impressions in the final minutes of the title game against Kansas in 2008, I would have won my family’s competition. Everyone has one of those moments that he or she can point to, and those, just as much as the wins, make March Madness amazing.

I’ve never won or lost a cent betting on NCAA tournament games, but every year, every game feels like life or death. Stanford almost certainly won’t be making the Big Dance, and I don’t particularly root for any other teams passionately. But for the next month, with a wide-open field and upsets undoubtedly cropping up wherever you don’t expect them to, March Madness will be my life.

If you think Jacob Jaffe needs to get over that one pick six years ago, or if you just want into his betting pool (and he has one I promise), hit him up at jwjaffe “at” stanford.edu.