Review of The Madness of March

Title:

The Madness of March

Author:

Alan Jay Zaremba

Publisher:

University of Nebraska Press

Date:

2009

ISBN:

978-0-8032-1383-8

Pages:

228

Price:

$19.95

Reviewed by Nick Christenson, npc@lvrevealed.com

April 20, 2009

While the Superbowl may be the most important single game on the sports betting calendar in the United States, it is the NCAA basketball tournament, March Madness, that generates more betting action than other sporting event. Madness is an appropriate description of the scene at Las Vegas sports books during the first week of this 63 game extravaganza. Alan Zaremba attempts to capture the spirit of these four days from a sports bettor's perspective in his book, The Madness of March.

At first glance readers might be put off by the fact that Alan Zaremba is a college professor and his book is published by the University of Nebraska press. However, from the perspective of this book, he's just another sports fan and a casual sports bettor. In March of 2007, he came to Las Vegas to experience the thrill of the first week of March Madness, and in this book he has chronicled his experience. At the very least, I expect that anyone who would consider buying English language books will find this one accessible.

In parts of this book the author does delve into character studies of some of his fellow sports book denizens, but these are brief and relatively superficial. The book doesn't get bogged down into an academic discussion of psychology, but at the same time, it doesn't provide much in the way of insight into the psyches of those who participate in these rituals. Depending on one's point of view, this could be either a positive or negative, but I expect that it will appeal to a broad, non-academic audience.

As far as sports betting wisdom, don't expect any here. The author is clearly an amateur, or as the serious sports bettors would say, a "square" bettor, and the people Zaremba talks to offer no more sophisticated analysis than the author. Fortunately, Zaremba doesn't try to pass himself off as a knowledgeable handicapper. He does understand the basic mechanics of sports betting, even though he gets an occasional detail incorrect, but someone looking to gain some insight into becoming a winning sports bettor will find nothing of substance here.

So, if the book isn't a font of sports betting knowledge, and doesn't have much to say of significance about the psychology of those who travel to Las Vegas every year to participate in this annual rite, what is the purpose of the book? Basically, I would describe it as an extended trip report about a casual sports bettor's journey to Las Vegas during the NCAA basketball tournament. For those basketball fans who have never experienced this atmosphere, it is certainly a singular experience. For someone who might desire to experience it in person but has never had the chance to do so, Zaremba's book would be the next best thing. On the other hand I expect that many potential readers would quickly tire of a repetitive four days worth of a minute by minute accounting of mediocre food, bad handicapping, and two-year-old sports event recaps.

In any case, I, personally, have experienced this event, and, I daresay, from a more sophisticated analytical point of view than anyone with whom the author engages. On the other hand, I haven't spent those days sitting in a crowded ball-room swilling bad beer with hundreds of drunk sports fans who want to talk to me about who I like in the evening's games, but that was entirely by choice. Consequently, I didn't find the book terribly entertaining or insightful, but I'm clearly not the target audience.

In fact, when I do go to sports books I am assiduous in my attempts to avoid engaging with the sorts of characters that appear in Zaremba's book, and his narration in no way inspires me to amend my methodology. The Madness of March isn't a bad book by any means. I'm sure there are those out there who would enjoy it, and I admit to being mildly entertained by it, I just don't think it will appeal very much to serious sports bettors.

Capsule:

The Madness of March succeeds as a superficial travelogue of the author's trip to Las Vegas at the beginning of the NCAA men's basketball tournament. If one is looking for a chronicle of someone's experience as a fan and amateur sports bettor, then this is the right place. Those looking for sports betting in sight or a deeper understanding of the motives of those who participate in this annual rite shouldn't expect to find either in these pages.