"March Madness" in the Times

[sagehen]

>Richard Sandomir, the sports media columnist, has a column in today's
>Times on the history of "March Madness" as applied to the NCAA men's
>basketball tournament (and earlier tournaments) at
>http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/25/sports/ncaabasketball/25tv.html?
>
>...
>There was no promotional strategy behind using March Madness to
>market the tournament. It just happened, and has stuck since 1982,
>CBS's first year in the madhouse. Kevin O'Malley, a former CBS Sports
>executive, recalled hearing the words for the first time one night
>early in the tournament.
>
>"Brent Musburger used it," said O'Malley, an industry consultant.
>"Around that time, some people used the phrase in print. Maybe some
>Midwestern writers used it, but it really blossomed when the
>tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985."
>
>But March Madness, as a basketball term, had been used well before
>Musburger said it, by the Illinois High School Association. The group
>began running a boys basketball tournament in 1908, and in 1939, its
>assistant executive secretary, Henry V. Porter, wrote an essay
>suggesting that a "little March madness may complement and contribute
>to sanity and help keep society on an even keel."
~~~~~~~~
Surely the madness of the March hare must enter into this somehow....?
A. Murie



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