This month’s big NCAA tournament is the ultimate democratic sporting event—one where schools from the most humble of athletic origins get to strut and fret their hour upon the national stage and entertain visions of knocking off a Division I powerhouse or two before succumbing to an inevitable fate by the Round of 16.
The March mania also reminds us that the U.S. is the only country in the world where varsity athletics often play a huge—even defining—role in campus life and culture. Can you imagine undergrads at Oxford or Cambridge painting their faces in the appropriate shade of blue to cheer on their oarsmen in what the Brits refer to simply as “The Race”?
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