The History and Culture of March Madness

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As spring rolls around, a strange phenomenon takes place at high schools and offices across the country: every student around you is suddenly an expert on university basketball teams you have never even heard of before. This is the magic of March Madness, a cornerstone of American culture that has turned college basketball into a national obsession.

While March Madness feels like it’s been hugely popular for ages, the tournament actually had a small and modest start. The first tournament took place in 1939, featuring only eight teams, and for decades, it was almost unknown. It wasn't until the late 1970s and early 1980s that March Madness was shown on the center stage, partly due to the famous rivalry between Michigan State point guard Magic Johnson and Indiana State small forward Larry Bird. As channel coverage on the tournament expanded and went more mainstream, it grew from a small event into a month-long event to celebrate and cheer on basketball.

The real reason for the tournament's popularity isn’t just because of fans’ craze over basketball, it’s the captivation of making brackets. Starting in the 1980s, fans began filling out brackets to predict the winner of each game until they chose what they thought would be the championing school. Today, over 60 million brackets are filled out annually. The main reason these brackets are so addicting is because everyone loves watching a low-ranking underdog unexpectedly defeat a national college powerhouse. Since March Madness uses instant elimination, one bad night for a fan favorite team can end their season instantly. This unpredictability means that a student who picks winning teams based on their favorite jersey could have better accuracy at picking brackets than a professional sports analyst. 

March Madness has built a unique sports culture that is centered around community and the shared buzz of each game. Throughout high schools, this tournament thrives on friendly competition and social media debates. Whether students are checking scores between their classes or celebrating an unexpected win after school, the tournament creates a sense of collective passion and hype that brings people together through their interest in basketball and probability.

March Madness is proof that you do not need to be an all knowing, die-hard basketball fan just to enjoy the game. Instead, it's about the drama, the unexpected upsets, and the almost statistically impossible hope that this will finally be the year you predict the perfect bracket.