March Madness pools give some Monday blues

PHOENIX — That’s it. It’s over. After a weekend of March Madness, your bracket is a mess.

Now, it’s Monday and you have to face all the bragging by your coworkers who are doing great in the pool. How are you going to handle it?

“If, at this point, you’re spent, you’re done, maybe you’re better off just putting some blinders on, focusing back on your work, and channeling your energy that way,” said Tom LaVecchian.

If you’re doing great in your pool, LaVecchian said it’s fine to gloat…a little.

“But the key is to always remain professional,” he said. “Even if you win the pool, it’s not life-changing money, so you’ve got to kind of get over that. Just get back to business and back to work as usual to foster a high-performing team.”

Valley sports psychologist Dr. Ellen Williams said if you’re doing well in the office pool, you might want to be careful about how you act at work today.

“If your boss is in the pool, gloating is probably not a good idea,” she said. “Congratulating him or her that their team did will probably go much farther for you than the $20 bucks would have. If you’re doing poorly, my thought is that it’s just a game. If that’s the worst thing that happens to you on a Monday, you’re going pretty well.”

Williams said if you’ve already lost $10 in the pool, look at this way: You’ve only lost a couple of lattes.

She joked that if you lost and still can’t face your coworkers, “you can always call in sick today, and just stay home and watch more basketball!”