The Madness That Still Unites America And Why It Feels Different This Year
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By Megan Brock
Published on March 19, 2026.
The March Madness tournament is celebrated throughout the year, when college basketball fans across the country gather to root for the underdog teams and marvel at the beautiful game of basketball. The tournament is known for thrilling upset victories and Cinderella stories. Despite the difficulty of reaching the Division 1 level, college athletes are often encouraged to participate in the tradition of “filling out a bracket’s” to predict the outcome of all 63 single-elimination games during the tournament. The NCAA has no verified record of a perfect bracket ever existing, with the odds of completing a perfection being estimated at 1 in 120.2 billion, which worsen to 1 in 9.2 quintillion if you're making bets based on a coin toss. The author reflects on the importance of supporting underdogs and reminding the nation that America is the ultimate underdog story.
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