LAS VEGAS -- It has become a tradition for some fans to come to Las Vegas for March Madness. But one group of friends have spent the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament in Las Vegas sports books for more than a decade, reported KVVU-TV.

For the past 13 years, Randy Anderson and his friends have been coming to the casinos to watch the first round of the NCAA Tournament. This year they are hanging at the Mirage Hotel-Casino.

Anderson -- who is known in his group as the "hat man" -- makes sure each of his buddies has the correct gear for the corresponding game.

"There are about 300 teams in Division One," he said. "We've been doing it for 13 years, so I have almost every hat from every school."

For each game, each guy wears the colors of the team he is betting on. They also carry that team's mascot, just in case.

"They are a diversion," fan Tiger Hanner said. "Or, you abuse them when your team loses. They're more a source of getting rid of your anxiety after a bad game."

Besides the hat and mascot bag, one of their group is responsible for the statistics bag.

"All the stats are in here," Sheldon Anderson said. "We know what the teams have done on the road and home."

This crew, who is actually a team of six, even has sleep schedules and work in shifts to make sure members do not lose their chairs in the sports book.

"Well, yeah, we have to keep the chairs," Randy Anderson said. "We have a rotation. We stay up until 3 a.m. and another shift comes in. We make sure we have chairs."

"I don't even know what time it is. I think it's Thursday, though," Hanner added.

For those who want to get a seat, gaming officials said most places fill quickly, so fans may want to get there as early as 6 a.m. The seats are first come, first served.