Editing 2751: March Madness

Jump to: navigation, search

Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.

The edit can be undone. Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
Latest revision Your text
Line 10: Line 10:
  
 
==Explanation==
 
==Explanation==
[[Randall]] has created [[:Category:Tournament bracket|yet another]] {{w|Tournament bracket|single-elimination tournament bracket}}. This time, everything in the bracket relates to the word March.
+
{{incomplete|Created by a PENGUIN OVERLORD - Do we need a chart? - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
  
Upper Left:
+
[[Randall]] has created [[:Category:Tournament bracket|yet another]] {{w|Tournament bracket|single-elimination tournament bracket}}. This time, everything in the bracket relates to the word March. The first section has things that are named after March.
This section has things that are named after March.
 
  
* {{w|NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament|March Madness}} is the (trademarked!) colloquial name given to the {{w|NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament}}, the season-culminating college basketball tournament played each spring in the US. It's common for college basketball fans—and even people who pay no attention to the sport for 11 months of the year—to make guesses as to how the tournament will play out by filling out brackets similar to the one shown here. They often compete against each other to see who in a group has the most accurate predictions.
+
{{w|NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament|March Madness}} is a college basketball tournament played each spring in the US.
  
* {{w|Mad as a March hare|March Hare}} refers to the observed chaotic behavior of the European hare said to occur during its breeding season, which peaks in March in Europe. {{w|Lewis Carroll}} comically used the phrase as the name of a {{w|March Hare|'mad' character}} in ''{{w|Alice's Adventures in Wonderland}}'' as though it referred to a type of hare rather than a seasonal behavior.
+
{{w|Mad as a March hare|March Hare}} refers to the observed unusual behaviour of the European hare said to occur during its breeding season, which peaks in March in Europe. Lewis Carroll comically used the phrase as the name of a {{w|March Hare|'mad' character}} in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as though it referred to a type of hare rather than a seasonal behaviour.
  
* {{w|Middlemarch|''Middlemarch''}}, ''A Study of Provincial Life'' is a novel by the English author George Eliot, based around the eponymous (but fictional) central English town. The name was a rather tongue-in-cheek constructed British placename, given that a {{w|March (territory)|-march}} is associated with borderlands (such as the {{w|Welsh Marches|Welsh}} and {{w|Scottish Marches}}) and yet depicted as being set in the rather unremarkable heartlands of the {{w|Midlands|middle-England}} of the age.
+
{{w|Middlemarch|Middlemarch}}, A Study of Provincial Life is a novel by the English author George Eliot.
** Or, more simply, it could just refer to the middle of the month of March, when March Madness takes place, as well as the Ides (see below), in a way that is rather self-referential for this particular branch of the bracket.
 
  
* {{w|Ides of March|The Ides of March}}, is the 74th day of the Roman Calendar, corresponding to March 15th, and is notorious for being the date {{w|Assassination of Julius Caesar|Julius Caesar was assassinated}}.
+
{{w|Ides of March|The Ides of March}}, is the 74th day of the Roman Calendar, corresponding to March 15th, and is notorious for being the date {{w|Assassination of Julius Caesar|Julius Caesar was assassinated}}.
  
Lower Left:
+
The Lower left quadrant all refers to {{w|Seventy-Six Trombones|Seventy-Six Trombones}}, which is a song from the 1957 musical "The Music Man," about the instruments in an imagined parade. ("March" is another word for "parade.") The [https://genius.com/Meredith-willson-seventy-six-trombones-lyrics opening line] of that song states that "76 trombones led the big parade, with 110 cornets close behind." Later in the song the lyrics "there were more than a thousand reeds springing up like weeds" and "there were fifty mounted cannon in the battery" inspire the next match up.
  
* All entries in this quadrant refer to the song "{{w|Seventy-Six Trombones}}" from the 1957 musical ''The Music Man''.  The song describes an imagined parade, particularly the large marching band leading it.  ("March" can be a synonym for "parade", in this context.)  The [https://genius.com/Meredith-willson-seventy-six-trombones-lyrics opening line] of that song states that "76 trombones led the big parade, with 110 cornets close behind." The song also includes the lyrics "there were more than a thousand reeds springing up like weeds" and "there were fifty mounted cannon in the battery".
+
{{w|March of Dimes|March of Dimes}} is a charity program advocating for moms and babies.
  
Upper Right:
+
{{w|March of the Toy Soldiers|March of the Toy Soldiers}} is a musical piece from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite.
All entries in this section have the words "march of" in their full names.
 
  
* {{w|March of Dimes}} is a charity program advocating for mothers and babies.
+
{{w|Ent|The Last March of the Ents}} is a scene in the Lord of the Rings: The Two towers, where ents, fictional treelike creatures, march against Isengard.
  
* "March of the Toy Soldiers" is a musical piece from {{w|Tchaikovsky}}'s ''{{w|The Nutcracker}}'' Suite.
+
{{w|March of the Penguins|March of the Penguins}} is a 2005 nature documentary directed by Luc Jacquet.
  
* The Last March of the Ents is from the ''{{w|The Two Towers|Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers}}'', where the {{w|ent}}s, fictional{{citation needed}} treelike creatures, march against the fortress of Isengard.
+
Wedding March may refer to {{w|Wedding March (Mendelssohn)|Felix Mendelssohn's musical composition in C Major}}, or as a more general description of a bridal chorus as the bride enters a wedding.
  
* ''{{w|March of the Penguins}}'' is a 2005 nature documentary directed by {{w|Luc Jacquet}}. Originally produced in French and available in several translations, the English version has narration by actor {{w|Morgan Freeman}}. It is also mentioned in comic [[1408: March of the Penguins]].
+
{{w|Funeral March|Funeral March}} is a musical genre, usually in a minor key, in a slow "simple duple" metre, imitating the solemn pace of a funeral procession.
  
Lower Right:
+
{{w|The Imperial March|The Imperial March}} is a theme from Star Wars which often plays when characters from the empire, particularly large batches of storm troopers, are on screen.
All entries in this section end with the word "march".
 
  
* Wedding March refers to {{w|Wedding March (Mendelssohn)|Felix Mendelssohn's musical composition in C Major}}, as it's the more commonly used name. At the same time it can also be a more general description of a bridal chorus as the bride enters a wedding.
+
{{w|Nissan Micra|The Nissan March}} is a supermini car produced in Japan.
  
* {{w|Funeral March|Funeral March}} is a musical genre, usually in a minor key, in a slow "simple duple" metre, imitating the solemn pace of a funeral procession. An example of this is the "Funeral March of a Marionette" by {{w|Charles Gounod}} and {{w|Lyn Murray}}, used as the theme for "{{w|Alfred Hitchcock Presents}}."
+
In the alt text, Randall claims his bracket has 76 trombones being led by Sousa (a famous bandleader; the lead character in "The Music Man" claims that he led the supposed parade) against the March of the Penguins, led by Morgan Freeman (who narrated the English release of the film).
  
* {{w|The Imperial March|"The Imperial March"}} is a theme from ''{{w|Star Wars}}'' which often plays when characters from the Empire, particularly large batches of storm troopers, are on screen.
+
==Transcript==
 
+
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
* The {{w|Nissan Micra|Nissan March}} is a supermini car produced in Japan.
 
  
In the title text, Randall claims his bracket has 76 trombones being led by {{w|John Philip Sousa}} (a famous bandleader and composer who also wrote the national march of the United States; the lead character in ''The Music Man'' claims that he led the supposed parade) against the ''March of the Penguins'', led by Morgan Freeman (who narrated the English release of the film).
+
:[Title:]
 +
:March Madness
  
==Transcript==
+
:[A tournament bracket tree is shown with 16 competitors, 8 on the left and 8 on the right side]
:[A tournament bracket with 16 entries, divided in four quadrants, two to the left and two to the right, is shown. The 16 are paired in 8 matches, which then pair in four new matches, which further pair in two. And then those two meet in the center where there is an empty rectangle for the winner. Above the bracket there is a title:]
 
:<big>March Madness</big>
 
  
:[Upper left quadrant:]
+
:[Left side:]
 
:Madness
 
:Madness
 
:Hare
 
:Hare
Line 63: Line 57:
 
:Ides
 
:Ides
  
:[Lower left quadrant:]
 
 
:76 Trombones
 
:76 Trombones
 
:110 Cornets
 
:110 Cornets
Line 70: Line 63:
 
:50 Mounted Cannon
 
:50 Mounted Cannon
  
:[Upper right quadrant:]
+
:[Right side:]
 
:Dimes
 
:Dimes
 
:Toy Soldiers
 
:Toy Soldiers
Line 77: Line 70:
 
:Penguins
 
:Penguins
  
:[Lower right quadrant:]
 
 
:Wedding
 
:Wedding
 
:Funeral
 
:Funeral
Line 83: Line 75:
 
:Imperial
 
:Imperial
 
:Nissan
 
:Nissan
 +
  
 
{{comic discussion}}
 
{{comic discussion}}
  
 
[[Category:Tournament bracket]]
 
[[Category:Tournament bracket]]
[[Category:Basketball]]
 
[[Category:Music]]
 
[[Category:Animals]]
 
[[Category:Fiction]]
 
[[Category:Star Wars]]
 
[[Category:LOTR]]
 
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
 

Please note that all contributions to explain xkcd may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see explain xkcd:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!

To protect the wiki against automated edit spam, we kindly ask you to solve the following CAPTCHA:

Cancel | Editing help (opens in new window)