Opinion

JILL McCORKLE: Relief of March Madness! Cheering teams not screaming in disbelief

Saturday, April 6, 2024 -- What a relief to have this brief window of time when the NCAA Tournament brings different meaning to the word, that I can think madness and instead of wanting to scream in anger and disbelief, I can scream out the name of a team, eat popcorn and move to the sound of pep bands.

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Final Four - N.C.State
EDITOR'S NOTE: Jill McCorkle is a novelist and short story writer living in Hillsborough, N.C. Her most recent book is Old Crimes. She is a UNC-Chapel Hill graduate and has taught most recently at N.C. State University.
    Since 2016, the word madness has come to me often.  I watch and read the news, tallying all that threatens our democracy, and think madness. The many acts and beliefs I find insane and dangerous--madness.
So, what a relief to have this brief window of time when the NCAA Tournament brings different meaning to the word, that I can think madness and instead of wanting to scream in anger and disbelief, I can scream out the name of a team, eat popcorn and move to the sound of pep bands.
It is Madness. March madness, and there’s a whole vocabulary that goes with the season: brackets, bids, rankings. Seeds, Bubbles, Cinderella. NET, PPG, BPI and NIL.
It sounds like an auction, a fairy tale, pregnancy test, recycling code and nothing. Madness. People dress in monochromatic outfits--some paint their faces to match--touting creatures and symbols of all varieties: birds, wolves, tigers, volunteers and devils. What’s your team? people might ask if you aren’t sufficiently clothed in your color.

It’s an emotional time, the whole range of human emotions caught there in these many arenas where opposing voices sing — microcosms of victory and defeat — successes and failures — moments that will be written about and recorded as a part of history and legend.

The coaches feel it, the players feel it, and so do the many thousands of fans. At end, someone will win and someone will lose. Coaches and players will line up and shake hands and the many fans gathered there — some thrilled, some devastated-- will move forward as a group, filing through the turnstiles and making their way home, sometimes even with family members and friends who are wearing the other color.

And they survive. They are there because they love their teams and want them to win, but even more than that, they love the sport. Possibly many are already dreaming of next year.

Maybe it’s because my team lost last night, but I woke this morning wondering what would have happened if they had refused to shake hands and file off the court in a respectful way. What if they refused to admit loss — even in front of cameras at all angles, thousands of witnesses, professionals hired to make the calls, and the bright lights of the score board?

What if they came up with a derogatory nickname for the other coach and found things debilitating or painful about various players or their family members and attempted to humiliate them? What if they said that the referees and major network sports commentators colluded and were all liars?

Needless to say, this analogy is a very simple one and of the lowest hanging fruit variety. It is on the ground and fermenting, this comparison of the loss of a sport to the loss of our democracy, and yet, what if, in the next round of games, players showed up to discover that the lines on the court had been repainted to favor the other team?

Would there be complaints? Or what if fans showed up and were told their tickets weren’t valid. Would people be upset? What if the referees hired because of their balanced sense of judgment were replaced with those who had no qualms about cheating and openly favored one team over another. Would people wonder if the sport itself was being threatened and hijacked? Could it survive without a sense of fairness and the guidelines and rules that define it?

Some might argue that it is because of the rules and guidelines that such a contest can even exist, that without these constructs — like lines on the interstate--- chaos would devour all else. There would be no sport without fairness and integrity; all the hard work and talents of those individuals participating would be sacrificed to a lack of respect and civility.
Imagine if the one who screams loudest--say the player parents don’t want their children to imitate, the one who rarely makes a point and commits one flagrant foul after another – is named MVP and becomes the face of Basketball. Talk about madness!

Would this sport that so many people love and treasure, survive? There is no way.

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