Editing 2751: March Madness

{{comic
| number    = 2751
| date      = March 17, 2023
| title     = March Madness
| image     = march_madness_2x.png
| imagesize = 593x333px
| noexpand  = true
| titletext = My bracket has 76 trombones led by John Philip Sousa facing off against thousands of emperor penguins led by Morgan Freeman.
}}

==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. 

Upper Left:
The first 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&mdash;and even people who pay no attention to the sport for 11 months of the year&mdash;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|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|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.
** 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}}.

Lower Left:

* 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".

Upper Right:

* {{w|March of Dimes}} is a charity program advocating for mothers and babies.

* "March of the Toy Soldiers" is a musical piece from {{w|Tchaikovsky}}'s ''{{w|The Nutcracker}}'' Suite.

* 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.

* ''{{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]].

Lower Right:

* 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|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}}."

* {{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.

* 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).

==Transcript==
:[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:]
:Madness
:Hare

:Middle
:Ides

:[Lower left quadrant:]
:76 Trombones
:110 Cornets

:1000+ Reeds
:50 Mounted Cannon

:[Upper right quadrant:]
:Dimes
:Toy Soldiers

:Ents
:Penguins

:[Lower right quadrant:]
:Wedding
:Funeral

:Imperial
:Nissan

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Tournament bracket]]
[[Category:Basketball]]
[[Category:Music]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]