A lot of people have placed an undue focus on 2012 because they think the Mayans predicted the world would end later this year.

We can accomplish very little by sitting and talking about the absurdity of an ancient culture using some stone tablet thousands of years ago to accurately predict the apocalypse. We’d probably be funnier than the skit “Saturday Night Live” did on it a couple of months ago, but that’s not important right now.

What’s important is how this whole doomsday discussion has missed the one truly amazing thing about the 2012 calendar, a special alignment which happens this week.

The first two days of March Madness fall directly prior to St. Patrick’s Day, which falls on a Saturday.

If that doesn’t prove some sort of cosmic guidance in the universe – well at least for 2012 – I don’t know what does. I can take off work to enjoy two of the best days of the sports calendar, celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and then still have a day off (one that also has lots of basketball action) to recover for work.

That’s something the ancient witch doctors should have bragged about predicting, not the end of the world.

The week means even more to me because I also throw myself into the NCAA Wrestling Tournament and the early days of Major League Soccer. In short, people who sell pizza, chicken wings and beer will probably see me more this weekend than my family.

I know some people will laugh at how people like me turn almost all of their attention to a weekend-long sporting event, but I think events like March Madness play a critical role in our society.

So many segments of the country spend way too much time trying to tear down people they disagree with. This becomes so much more pronounced in an election year like this one.

The college basketball tournament gives a lot of people three weeks to bond over one subject when they might otherwise not have much in common. Sure, arguments can come up, but the debate over whether St. John’s or Cincinnati will win the next game probably won’t bring out the bad blood that politics does.

Besides, the excitement of the competition should draw in anyone regardless of whether they really care who wins and loses. College sports has many, many problems, but the thrill of March Madness isn’t one of them.

That’s why I always take the first two days off from work if I can manage it. By spending Thursday and Friday watching basketball, I will contribute to a rise in positive energy that can help the country rise about petty differences.

Or I just want to sit around, do nothing and eat food I know I should try and avoid. And possibly have a chance to win one of the many pools I inevitably join.  But mainly because the making America feel like a better place stuff. Yeah, that’s the real reason. I heard it from the Mayans or something.