Illinois Coined “March Madness,” NCAA Then Took It
Maybe it's not quite as simple as the headline would indicate, but the truth of the matter is indisputable. Illinois High School athletics first used the term way back in 1939.
I knew absolutely nothing about Illinois' connection to March Madness until Monday morning, when Joe Dredge brought up this little nugget of information. He was discussing the Fighting Illini's prospects during the upcoming NCAA tournament when he pointed out
"Y'know, Illinois first used the term March Madness before it was used to describe the current NCAA tournament."
Well, to be honest about my sports knowledge (or lack thereof), I didn't know that at all. I thought about pretending to know it because I'm a guy, and if there's one thing most guys hate to admit it's that they might not know something about sports. Any sports. Doesn't matter if it's the big three of football, baseball, and basketball or if it's something way out there like Bo-taoshi or Buzkashi, most guys like to know sports stuff and hate being caught clueless.