Time For March Madness Vasectomies Already? A Deadspin Pledge

Like the Filet-O-Fish song, it's a peripheral American tradition: doctors pushing vasectomies during the NCAA tournament. And then, of course, the media breathlessly writing about it.

We've been guilty of this, and why not? It's a great, easy story. The doctors know their way around the media, so they give their programs clever names like Vas Madness and Snip City. You get a few quotes, make a few jokes (one actual doctor is Richard Chopp, MD), and bam: A few inches less column space to fill.

But do we need these exact same stories, year after year? From 2008:

For guys who park in front of the TV during college basketball's March Madness, the Oregon Urology Institute has a suggestion: Why not use that time to recover from a vasectomy?

2009:

Since a vasectomy requires a few days of rest, the people at ORI reasoned what better time to get vasectomy than March Madness, when you have a good excuse to sit on the couch?

And 2010:

After all, men, if you're going to do something that requires you to sit around in a bathrobe, doing nothing for two days, why not do it when there's wall-to-wall basketball on TV?

You see what I mean about it being an easy write? I promise that we will no longer lead our March Madness vasectomy stories by explaining that the tourney is a good time to sit on your ass anyway, and I promise that we will not end that paragraph by questioning if there's a better time of year for a vasectomy.