That’s all any sports fan can talk about this month. I’m sure you’ve already noticed the grown men (and grown women) walking around with copies of their tournament brackets cursing at the TV or hugging a total stranger because a college that they’ve never even heard of before just pulled out a win in overtime. Unless you’re familiar with this primal ritual, you may wonder what it is about March that makes people so mad (hence the name “March Madness”).

The phrase “March Madness” was originally coined in 1939 by Henry V. Porter, an assistant executive secretary of the Illinois High School Association, in an article he wrote in a magazine describing the craziness of the Illinois state high school basketball tournament. The term quickly caught on and was used officially in 1973.

Nowadays, of course, March Madness describes the NCAA single elimination tournament that takes place in March and concludes with an ultimate college basketball champion. What were all those tournaments that we heard about in February and early March prior to the official start of the NCAA Tourney? Those were the conference tournaments that determined the 30 conference champions that got automatic bids. The rest of the field of 65 was selected on March 11th (selection Sunday).

If this already seems overwhelming, here’s a simple way to break it all down and enjoy the rest of the action this month and beginning of next (yes, it’s kind of misleading, but the championship game is not in March, but on April 2nd).

Fill out your forms

Fill out what’s called a tournament bracket. I just got through picking my teams and it was completely mid boggling and my head hurts from sifting through articles trying to determine which team has what it takes to make it to the “Final Four” (the final four teams that face off on March 31st).

If it’s too late for you to fill in an entire 65 team bracket, try at least to pick your final four teams. It’s a long month of basketball and if you have even a few teams you are rooting for, you will enjoy the competition that much more.

Root for your College Team and Against its Rivals

If you graduated from a school that’s in the tourney, then by all means cheer for them (unless of course you hated your college experience and then you root against them). And, if your college had any particular rivals (which they all do), you’ll have someone to root against as well

Can Cinderella make it to the Ball?

It’s always exciting in this tournament when an underdog team advances to the Finals (George Mason was ranked number 11 and made it to the Final Four last year). I love a good “Cinderella story” so I always choose a bunch of upsets in my pool. If you win, you look like a genius. There’s one caveat however. If you choose all underdogs (like I did last year for fun), you risk great embarrassment (like I did last year). Alternatively, you can root for all top seeds and have a decent chance of getting a few to the final four (although last year all #1 seeds failed to make the Final Four for only the second time ever).

It’s all about the Human Interest stories

My interest in sports always revolves around a good story. I love to read about players and incorporate their stories into the drama of their teams’ wins and losses. There are certainly many compelling stories about these young athletes that you will find just by picking up a newspaper or logging on to any of the sports internet sites like www.cbssportsline.com or www.espn.com. Here is just a small sampling to get you started.

Joakim Noah (Florida) His Dad was a famous tennis player and his Mom was Miss Sweden. Some fans love him and some fans hate him.

DJ Strawberry (Maryland) Dad was baseball great Darryl Strawberry.

Kevin Durant (Texas) He is considered the best freshman in the country and some say the best player (will most likely be a top 5 pick in the NBA draft if he decides to leave school).

Greg Oden (Ohio State) If he doesn’t decide to stay in college, he will almost definitely be the number one pick in the NBA draft.

Wildcats in the House

Pick your teams by their nickname. For example, if you have Kids and they’re obsessed with the Disney movie High School Musical, (like mine are) you can pick all teams with the nickname "Wildcats" (like the basketball team in the movie). Believe it or not, Arizona, Davidson and Kentucky all have that nickname (although, as of this writing, only Kentucky is still in the tourney, so maybe not necessarily the best strategy).

Don’t let the “madness” of this tournament overwhelm you. I promise that if you make even the smallest effort to get involved, you will have fun. As my sports savvy friend Jacqueline recently remarked, with my Kids’ back to back March birthdays with the requisite school celebrations, family parties, class parties and more chocolate cake than you can possibly envision, I’ve already survived my own particular “March Madness” so I’m more than ready to take on the NCAA.