Productivity dips as NCAA final looms

The national career placement company Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported recently 50 million U.S. workers had entered an NCAA basketball tournament pool. That number surely contributed to what is estimated to be $1.2 billion in lost productivity as afternoon games increasingly find smartphones, tablets and desktop work stations.

Winning, of course, erases all bad feelings, and the UConn Huskies, the seventh seed in their bracket, have a chance to win it all tonight after sitting out last year”™s tournament for grade infractions. The Kentucky Wildcats, seeded eighth in their bracket, are slight favorites as of this writing. Tipoff is 9:10 p.m.