[Ads-l] "Sweet Sixteen" - basketball tournament

[Ben Zimmer]

Barry has definitively established that "March Madness" originated in
Indiana, rather than Illinois as is commonly claimed. I wrote about that
here:

https://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/a-final-four-of-march-madness-lingo/

Interesting that Indiana can also take credit for "Sweet Sixteen" (Barry's
got later Illinois examples from 1935).


On Wed, Mar 14, 2018 at 2:56 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:

> Barry Popik was a pertinent webpage although it looks like Peter's
> citations antedate the ones listed on the webpage. Barry also has
> entries on "elite eight", "final four", and "March madness".
>
> Sweet Sixteen (sixteen remaining tournament players or teams)
> https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/
> sweet_sixteen_sixteen_remaining_tournament_players_or_teams/
>
> Elite Eight (eight remaining tournament players or teams)
> https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/
> elite_eight_eight_remaining_tournament_players_or_teams/
>
> Final Four (four remaining tournament players or teams)
> https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/final_four/
>
> March Madness (NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship)
> https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/march_madness
>
> Garson
>
>
> On Wed, Mar 14, 2018 at 2:37 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> wrote:
> > I’ve always suspected “March Madness” caught on as much as it did not
> just because of the alliteration but because of the allusion to a blend of
> the Mad Hatter and the March Hare.
> >
> > LH
> >> On Mar 14, 2018, at 2:01 PM, Peter Reitan <pjreitan at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:
> >>
> >> "Sweet Sixteen" in the context of a basketball tournament dates to at
> least 1927 in Indiana.
> >>
> >>
> >> In 1927, it was used in a set of pre-tournament predictions.  But it
> was used to refer to the best sixteen teams in Randolph County, Indiana,
> not the final sixteen in the tournament.  Funnily enough, though, Randolph
> County currently has only 20 incorporated towns and townships.  Dunno what
> it was like in 1927:
> >>
> >>
> >> "Sweet Enough. Randolph County.  Dear Bob: - Here is our "sweet
> sixteen" of Randolph County. . . ."
> >>
> >> The Star Press (Muncie, Indiana), March 3, 1927, page 10.
> >>
> >>
> >> Again, in 1929, it was used as a pre-season prediction, but this one
> appears to be a statewide prediction or ranking of the best teams:
> >>
> >>
> >> "Here is our 'Sweet Sixteen': Bedford, . . . . ."
> >>
> >> The Indianapolis Star, January 27, 1929, page 32.
> >>
> >>
> >> In March of 1929, another paper used the term more unambiguously to
> refer to the final sixteen teams remaining in the Indiana state basketball
> tournament.
> >>
> >>
> >> "Select '16' to Play State Net Finals Meet Tests Today. Indianapolis,
> March 9 - (AP) - A few more hours and we will know who will be the Sweet
> Sixteen.  In 16 Indiana cities this afternoon and evening 48 basketball
> games will be played and when it is all over there will be 16 teams
> entitled to come to Indianapolis next Friday and Saturday and play in the
> final tourney which will decide the 1929 high school championship of the
> state."
> >>
> >> Palladium-Item (Richmond, Indiana), March 9, 1929, page 11.
> >>
> >>
> >> And apropos "March Madness," The Indianapolis Star used the expression
> "basketball madness" in March 1929:
> >>
> >>
> >> "All the enthusiasm which has been accumulating during the last twelve
> months, scarcely diminished by the occasional effervescence of the playing
> season, is now ready to burst forth in a frenzy of basketball madness."
> >>
> >> Indianapolis Star, March 1, 1929, page 8.
> >>
> >>
> >>
>

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