March Madness Means Bets, Basketball and Vasectomies
March 19, 2010— -- Like many men, David Bone of Springfield Ore. had a plan for college basketball's annual March Madness tournament: enter a bracket , take care of chores ahead of time, and get a vasectomy.
Yes, a vasectomy. In the past two years, more and more doctors across the nation have jumped on the tournament as a prime opportunity to get men to "take care of the equipment and lower your seed for the tourney," as one advertisement for an Oregon urologist suggested.
Urologists are even offering March Madness deals with pizza, mugs and reminders of the mandatory days off of from work they'll need to help prod men to make the cut.
"What better way to spend March Madness than to have doctor's orders to sit on the couch?" Bone, 38, told ABC News.
"I heard about this thing called 'Snip City' last year and I thought 'that is a really good idea,'" said Bone, 38.
Bone said he visited the Oregon Urology Institute in Eugene, Ore. for the 15-minute procedure on Thursday, which will leave him with a long weekend to sit at home and watch the games with his new promotional package: a cooler, a Subway sandwich coupon, a promotional T-shirt, a sports magazine and a bag of frozen peas, ah ... for the swelling. He says he'll spend spare time playing with his five children.
Dr. Douglas Hoff, a urologist at the Oregon Urology Institute, said Bone is not alone. He's seen twice as many vasectomy appointments in March than in any other month.
"I don't know if these were the guys who were on the fence and this pushed them over the edge, or if these are guys who would be doing it anyways," said Hoff.
In Green Bay, Wis., Dr. Bruce Neal is also reporting a slight business uptick during the tournament.
"Usually because of the weather the way it is, a lot of people are going to be watching ...[their] NCAA basketball team," said Neal, of the BayClinic. "We thought we could catch people in their down time, and give them a reason to sit there and watch one basketball game after another."
Neal's office also used a "Let our Boys Take Care of Your Boys" promotion at the end of the year to draw in more customers. This is his second year of offering a March Madness promotion.
