FAYETTEVILLE (KFSM)-Thursday (Mar. 19) marked day one of March Madness, and sports bars across Northwest Arkansas were packed with college basketball fans as they took a little longer lunch break than usual.
Jason Benson said he is guilty of juggling his bracket and work, but he said his bosses are understanding.
"I think it's part of it, they realize people are going to be watching basketball whether it's a longer lunch or at working pulling games up on their computers, checking their brackets, so it's part of the season," Benson said.
University of Arkansas sophomore Colby Ball said he's having the same problem during school.
"It's really hard to pay attention in class, whenever you're watching the games on your phone, or on your iPad, or whatever so it's a little hard to pay attention when all this is going on," Ball said.
Some Hogs fans said the tournament is even more time-consuming this year because of the 5 seed appearance by the Razorbacks.
"It's a lot more fun picking teams whenever you can actually pick your own team instead of somebody else's team so it's really neat," Ball said.
Jeremy Furstenberg said he currently has four brackets going. He said he didn't pick the Hogs to make it to the final four, but said it's exciting all the same.
"When your team is in it, it's a lot more fun, it's a lot more passionate, you follow it more closely, and it's always better when you're winning," Furstenberg said.
The Razorbacks haven't made an NCAA appearance since 2008.