For many basketball fans, March means sitting on the couch watching the NCAA tournament for days on end, filling out brackets, and shedding a tear during "One Shining Moment." But for a subset of men who are excited about March Madness, it also means an ice pack and a vasectomy.
Bookings for the procedure surge during the tournament so men can spend their recuperation time watching endless days of sports. And urologists love it, too, since getting comfortable in a big recliner and staying away from any strenuous activities are part of the recovery process. "March Madness gives them a good excuse to lay low and recover," said Alexander Rozanski, a urologist at UT Health San Antonio.
“Make this March a slam dunk with a snip to your junk!”
— Natalia Mehlman Petrzela (@nataliapetrzela) March 13, 2023
Eagerly awaiting the masters’ thesis on the marketing of “vasectomy season” to coincide with March madness… a rich text for some gender/sports studies scholar! https://t.co/ycCb7gaknL
For a lot of men, it takes some convincing to have the sterilization procedure done, often by us, their female partners. Even if they don't want any more kids (or any at all), we can appreciate that it's a pretty sensitive issue. But the lure of endless sports-watching time might be enough to convince some men who are otherwise on the fence — especially if you might normally get annoyed by their tunnel vision during March Madness.
Can someone please tell my husband the only men that get to just sit home and watch March Madness are the men who are recovering from a vasectomy.
— Amber Jackson (@fishoutofvodkaa) March 12, 2023
Let me hear the word “bracket” one more time and see 👏what 👏 happens 👏
But if the man in your life needs even further encouragement, consider the money you'll be saving. A vasectomy typically costs around $1,000, according to Planned Parenthood, because it's a relatively simple procedure that doesn't require a hospital stay or general anesthesia. With some health insurance plans, it might cost less — and there's even mobile, free vasectomy clinics that have sprung up since the overturning of Roe v. Wade last year.
Props to all the smart guys out there that scheduled their vasectomy for this morning so they could enjoy the first round of March Madness on the couch! 🍻
— Buckeye34 (@Buckeye341) March 16, 2023
And if the $1,000 price tag still seems pretty high, think of the money you'll save on other forms of birth control afterward. Condoms, for instance, might cost you $200 per year on average, so you'd see a return on investment only five years after a vasectomy. Tubal ligation, the female sterilization procedure, is much more invasive than a vasectomy and would cost upward of $6,000.
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Of course, $1,000 is a drop in the bucket when compared to the expense you're trying to avoid with a vasectomy: raising a child. That'll now cost you $310,000 from birth to age 17. With or without the promise of uninterrupted March Madness watching, that's going to be plenty to convince a lot of guys to get the snip. Basketball just makes it easier to swallow.
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