It is that special time of the year, more special than almost any other time of the year, where all of the stars are perfectly aligned, the planets are in a synchronized orbit and the parity bits flow freely and unhampered down the wires directly to the wide-screen TVs of the world. It’s time for March Madness. Get the brackets filled out, for it is time to find out who can survive and advance and take the crown as national champion of the college basketball world.

This event, perhaps the most wholesome and complete in the sports world, is spectacular. A total of 65 teams are selected from a field of hundreds which compete from early December until mid-March to make the field, or “The Dance.”

The jockeying for position is amazing, and each year more new measurements are put into play to make it “easier” to sort the good teams from the not so good (there are no bad teams in the field). The won-loss record is still a key, but now the RPI rating is used to separate those teams that play weaker opponents. (RPI means Rating Percentage Index, which is derived from three component factors: Division I winning percentage (FI, 25 percent), schedule strength (FII, 50 percent); and opponent’s schedule strength (FIII, 25 percent). Different weights are given to the location of the game for both the winner and loser of the game. So the days of playing a lightweight schedule in December and hoping for a good conference schedule in the winter does not play well for the March draw. RPI will tell you out. Ask Virginia Tech about that.

I like the wholesomeness of this event. It is the only sporting event that truly brings amateur athletes to a court in head-on competition with equal (or less than equal) chances of winning, and the winner advancing to the next round, ultimately crowning a champion.

The less-than-equals are provided by invitation of all conference champions and conference tournament champions in the division to the tournament automatically. So a lot of the little schools like Wofford, Winthrop, Coppin State, Robert Morris, Morgan State, etc., make it. And many times these teams become giant killers and take out some powerful teams.

Now on to the playing of the tournament. The first game is played pairing a play-in team (the 65th) with a play-in opponent on Tuesday. The winner of this game moves on to the magical opening days of the tournament. In those two days, today and Friday this week, 64 teams will play in 32 games.

What a glorious event. Cities across the country will light up, coliseums will energize and courts will explode with blood, sweat and in some cases tears. In the East the games begin at noon and they will continue until the wee hours of the morning both days and the day’s end wears long on the West Coast.

Favored teams will fall. Teams are seeded one through 16 with No. 1 the best based on performance and placed in a region - East, South, Midwest or West - for the tournament. The pairings place the highest seed with the lowest, next high with next low, or No. 1 vs. No. 16, No. 2 vs. No. 15, etc.

By the time you read this, it will be Thursday afternoon and at least one lower seeded team (Nos. 9 though 16) will have beaten a higher-seeded team (1 through 8), I predict.

Many of us game lovers will participate in a bracket contest to see who can predict the eventual champion of the tournament.

There are many methods to select the outcomes of these contests. Experts try to use logic. They know the players, their statistics, the won-loss record home and away for every team. They often encourage their families to participate - oh, the mistake made there. If not the wife, often the child wins the contest. At our house, only men can play in the bracket competition. We learned long ago.

Back to the tournament. After the first two days, the teams are down to 32. Those teams play Saturday and Sunday. This brings the field down to the Sweet 16. We have just participated in four days of eye-blearing, nonstop, all-day-and night exuberance. It is probably a good thing it is just once a year.

Next weekend 16 will play until there are four, and the following weekend a champion will be crowned. Ultimately, a big-name team like Kansas or Kentucky or Duke likely will be that champion, but won’t it be fun to talk about Wofford beating Wisconsin or Winthrop almost taking out Duke?

I know I’ll be sneaking around looking following every moment of the game I can just to see what happens.