Starting in 1939, eight of the best Division 1 college basketball teams received an invite to play in a tournament to crown a nationwide basketball champion. In the end, the University of Oregon won the tournament and since that moment in time March Madness has been played every year except for the 2020 season, which was canceled due to COVID. The event has grown in popularity every year since its start, partly because college basketball is one of the most popular sports to bet on in America, only trailing after football in total engagement, according to Yahoo Sports.
March Madness is widely considered one of the most thrilling tournaments due to its unpredictable nature. The term “March Madness” was popularized by broadcaster Brent Musburger during the 1982 tournament. Musburger’s nickname stuck and remains extremely fitting with crazy game results, causing extreme “madness” in the tournament every year.
While changes have occurred to the formatting of the tournament since 1939, the excitement remains. The tournament now features a 68 team format starting in late March and ending in early April. With an immense amount of games played in a short period of time, it is extremely entertaining and easy to follow all of the action as it unfolds throughout the tournament. Many students at Monte Vista enjoy watching the games during school as they track their brackets and check up on their picks. Brackets allow people to pick the winner of each game and bet against friends providing a spark of fun and added excitement to an already thrilling tournament.
“I love watching the games and following along with my bracket during school, watching with friends is exciting. ” said Joel Leung, a junior at MV.
Brackets allow those who are not as knowledgeable on the various teams or players to make picks and enjoy watching the games to follow their picks. The enjoyment of spending time with friends and competing against each other with your various picks makes for an entertaining and enjoyable experience.
Many students enjoy taking a break from worrying about schoolwork, or various stressful activities and instead watching exciting March Madness games unfold. For this reason, march madness has gained extreme popularity from students throughout MV.
