As the calendars turn to March each year, the sports world turns its eyes to one event: March Madness. Every year, 68 of college basketball’s top teams vie for the title of national champion in a single-elimination tournament. For a few weeks, the talk of buzzer beaters, upsets, and underdogs fills the air. Friends, families, and even coworkers bond over brackets and buffalo wings while they watch the chaos unfold. Of course, the LM community is no different: clubs and classes are all in on the madness. From brackets to debates, all the way to haikus and interpretive dances, there are a plethora of ways to celebrate the tournament at LM.
If you ever happen to stumble into Room 202 during second lunch, you might discover a room full of students deliberating over some of the toughest questions in sports. This group of students is the Sports Debate Club. With March Madness right around the corner, the club is getting ready to host heated discourse during the tournament. In preparation for the tournament, members have been analyzing rosters and studying statistics in tbe hopes of answering the million-dollar question: Which team has what it takes to go all the way? Andrew Badt ’24, club co-founder and debate moderator, expects that the arguments will only grow in intensity. When asked about the club’s plans for the tournament, he mentioned that the club is “going to debate each individual matchup and formulate a singular bracket.” Sports Debate Club’s joint bracket will be just one of the millions filled out this year, as the bracket has become an integral part of the March Madness experience. Anybody looking for a leg up in their bracket pool or who wants to share their own predictions should be sure to check out the club this month.
Furthermore, the competitive spirit of March Madness can also be found in LM’s classrooms this spring. Students in Chad Henneberry’s AP US History classes are competing in a tournament of their own, Muckraker Madness. Students must research a specific reformer from the Progressive Era and then show off what they learn through a series of short projects, going head-to-head with their classmates in a series of rounds. Each team is required to create a short podcast, then a haiku for the second round, followed by an interpretive dance-off. The final teams that survive these three challenges get to face off in a championship rap battle. Ahead of his first-round match, AP US History student Crosby Johnson ’24 mentioned that he enjoyed working on the project because “you can be creative and competitive, and working on the project grips my interests.” However, he also acknowledged that “it will take a lot to advance to the second round.” Just like the teams in the actual tournament, Johnson is looking to write a Cinderella story of his own.
Entertainment, creativity, and the competitive spirit are all reasons to get excited about March Madness at LM—you don’t even have to be a basketball fan. It doesn’t matter whether you are putting your predictions to the test or researching a muckraker this month. Regardless of how you dive into March Madness at LM, you’re in for a fun, albeit unpredictable, ride.
Graphic by Emma Liu ’22/Staff
