Is it mad to schedule a vasectomy around March Madness? If men are going to be chair-bound with an ice pack in their nether regions for a day or two, they may as well be able to watch some hoops, right? That’s what some urology practices are hoping men will do this week with the start of the college basketball playoffs. Urology Associates of Cape Cod is even offering free pizza along with a vasectomy and created the video above to entice men to watch “guilt-free”.

No question, some men would go pretty far to avoid nagging spouses and kids when they’re watching the NCAA tournament, but this?

One Cleveland Clinic urologist told a local news service that it’s traditionally his busiest time of year with a 50 percent jump in patients.

But I’m not sure that holds true for Boston. Dr. Tony Luongo, a urologist at Tufts Medical Center, laughed when I asked him about a March Madness spike and said it was the first he’d heard of it and, no, he isn’t seeing any more patients than usual - or any with the remote already in their hands.

“We did see about a 25 to 30 percent increase in vasectomies during 2009, at the peak of the economic downturn,” he told me. National data have confirmed that statistical blip, though I haven’t seen any documenting the March Madness surge.

Still, for male basketball fans planning to have a vasectomy anyway, timing it around this time of year isn’t, well, so crazy after all. The outpatient procedure usually takes just 10 to 15 minutes, and most patients can head home about 30 minutes later - well in time for tipoff.

And, yes, they usually should rest at home for a day or two to recuperate, said Luongo, which is just long enough to get them to the next round of the playoffs.

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By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff