This Is A Big Deal To More Than Just Sports Nerds: Part I

A quick scan of the illustrious search-engine google found the following political/editorial cartoons related to March Madness. I find it interesting that the NCAA Tournament, along with the gambling and nuance that goes along with it, is so frequently used as the subject of satire and metaphor each spring. This does not happen with the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Editorial cartoonists aren't exactly chomping at the bit to use the 1st round of the TPC at Sawgrass as a metaphor for the Iraq war. So why March Madness? First of all, I believe that people enjoy saying and using the phrase, 'March Madness'. My mom doesn't know the first thing about college basketball, and wouldn't know to refer to the event as the NCAA Tournament. But each March, she would know enough to ask, "When does March Madness start"? And I believe that this has much to do with why the NCAA Tournament is popular in the political cartooning universe. There is something transcendent about the Tournament; about March Madness. The fact that my mom has a rough awareness of the event proves this point. The fact that millions of high school kids, secretaries, computer geeks, retirees, mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers, sports nerds, etc. will fill out a NCAA Tournament bracket this year speaks to how prolific this event is to the American psyche. It's not that so many people love and follow college basketball, it's that this event is so well set up and marketed so well that it has the ability to consume those that don't know what state (or time zone) in which the University of Gonzaga is located. Anyone with half a mind has the ability to fill out a bracket and follow the tournament. Entering a tourney pool is the simple process of elimination. This isn't fantasy baseball, sudoku, or an episode of 'Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me', it's rather simple. Simple enough for anybody and everybody to do it, and compelling enough that anybody and everybody chooses to keep entering a pool and filling out a bracket year after year.