I hate March Madness.  It’s my favorite time of year.  And I freakin’ hate it.

There are a sundry of options in which bracketeers can participate.  To the winner go the spoils and glorious bragging rights.

Each year, I consult the insights of Bracketologists, as well as my obsessive DirecTV-subscribing friends. I separate the good from the bad, dissecting each team’s AP rank and strength of schedule and daily calorie intake (okay, maybe not). I compare home versus away records.  I try to figure out why Tyler Hansbrough is so good despite the fact that he looks like the reincarnation of Christian Laettner.  I wonder, is Hansbrough’s career arch is going to follow the exact same NBA sputter-out?

I print five sets of brackets.  I fill them out, including one featuring nothing but improbable underdogs winning through the Final Four, so when the next George Mason University goes on a veritable tear, I can proudly announce, “I called that!”

After days of deliberation and agony, I chicken out and submit my most modest bracket, which puts mostly #1 seeds going deep.  (Yes, I did have all 4 #1 seeds in the Final Four last year.)

And then the madness—er, Madness—begins. In high school, I would skip class to watch the opening rounds, glued to the TV in the student lounge.  My teachers didn’t care—they would often skip class, too.  Educational system FTW!

But that was a crude time, the ’90s.  Technology was limited to brick-like cell phones and infuriatingly slow 28.8 baud modems.  Streaming audio was out of the question, let alone streaming video.

As I grew up, so did my technology.  Games were broadcast on specialty channels, and they were streamed online, in all of their pixilated, 320×320, lagging 10fps glory.

Then, in 2008, games were streamed beautifully on Joost.  How do you top that?  Enter MobiTV, with one of the most ambitious apps to date: March Madness on Demand.  Games will be streamed on the iPhone!  The only downfall is the need of a WiFi connection.  (3G, anybody?)

Cell phone video has been a nearly dormant platform at best, with about 5% of all users accessing video during a given month.  But, with 4.3 million iPhones roaming around, and the always entertaining office pool, this app could give mobile video a significant boost.

Via Brandweek: …The March Madness on Demand app will also provide users with a variety of tournament related content, include updated scores and brackets, along with game and team previews from CBSSports.com. During games viewers can also access live box scores and statistics through an overlay placement — without interrupting the live video feed.

What could be better?  The Onion News Network weighs in:

NCAA Expands March Madness To Include 4,096 Teams

“Look out for Eckert—they have a full roster and they’re having practices!”  LOL!

iPhone apps are a terrific way to connect a very on-demand generation with your brand.  MINI has their own app.  Nike has their own app.  Shoot, even Nintendo’s Zelda has its own app: the Ocarina.

That app is just silly. Back to the matter at hand.

So why do I hate March Madness?  Because, after I carefully craft my brackets, my mother beats me by 12 points because she picked the schools based on uniform color and whether or not I have a cousin who lives nearby.  Blërg.

What next?

• Check out some more cool iPhone apps.
• Mashable posted 19 great ways to get involved with March Madness, though the post is nearly a year old.
• Fill out your brackets @ Yahoo! Pick ‘Em.  And play against your friendly neighborhood blogger: me.  Join the Sun Devils FTW! group.  (I’m reppin’ our home town heroes.)
• Get excited for the iPhone 3.0 OS, set to drop on March 17.