A light meditation on a seasonal public spectacle

And so, we put another March behind us, thinking no more about lions and lambs but alternating our moods between Chaucer’s “shoures soote” and Elliot’s “cruellest time” as we cope with the vagaries of April.

What else do we put behind us?

Well, for one thing, a certain madness, it too in contrasting forms. The spring political campaigns at last have melted into an election and the powerful, if uncertain, hopes for its consequences. And, yes, college basketball has coughed up the results of its annual celebration of uncertainty and provided us the spectacle of four remaining titans vying for nationwide acclaim with consequences of its own.

Yet, we must rest there at least a moment longer. For, there are still games to be played in the March Madness of the NCAA’s Championship Tournament. Still bets to be won and lost. Still dreams of glory to be dashed and realized.

This may be madness, indeed, but it is surely an exhilarating madness to watch play out on our television screens, to share on social media and to analyze in the newspaper.

Beyond the colorful fluttering pompoms, the thundering stadiums and the cheering throngs of exuberant young faithful, I have often found the appeal of athletics at this time of year — and of college sports, in general, for that matter — more than a little curious. Why, I inevitably wonder every spring, are so many people so energetic about the performance of athletes transitioning from high school student to adulthood? And only in basketball and football?

Aside from some budding but still maturing attention in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, there is no athletic event involving this age group that even faintly resembles the national furor these two college men’s sports attract. Gamblers aren’t falling all over themselves to predict the accomplishments of college baseball teams. Nor of hockey teams. Water polo is an incredible display of skill, strategy and athleticism, but its participants have no hope of attracting the hearts, eyeballs and wallets of dabblers in chance. Likewise, swimming or soccer or wrestling or so many other competitions one could name.

Nor, do probably three-quarters or more of the folks who succumb to this seasonal affliction have any direct allegiance to the teams they follow and cheer. Students of a particular school or graduates, one can understand. But what personal emotional connection can a graduate of Western Illinois University, as one example, have that would stir enthusiasm for Auburn or Duke or Houston or Florida — or, to at least bring the discussion closer to home — even the universities of Iowa or Michigan or Wisconsin or, yes, Illinois?

It is, if nothing else, a remarkable marketing phenomenon. In a few short months, most of the gigantic court celebrities of the past four weeks will have shrunk back into obscurity. A few will go on to grind out a few years in front of appreciative but sparse crowds at community auditoriums. Fewer still will get their names in lights and on caps and sneakers and jerseys. It is as if the NBA and the NFL figured out a system to allow college boosters to fund their farm teams.

And, I suppose it is something to be observed, acknowledged and experienced, and not understood. Some combination of cultural and generational factors that synthesize into a popular sensation it is useless, perhaps even annoying, to contemplate.

So enjoy the madness while you still can, and enhance it with the descriptions, insights, and analysis of our writers in the Daily Herald Sports section — and know that you will also find there at least some muffled shouts and whispers for those many other teams and activities that may cause your breast to swell. Then, may all your bets be winners. May you revel in the glories of hard-fought victory. And may neither sweet showers nor rough winds impede your journey toward Shakespeare’s “darling buds of May.”

• Jim Slusher, jslusher@dailyherald.com, is managing editor for opinion at the Daily Herald. Follow him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/jim.slusher1 and on X at @JimSlusher. His new book “Conversations, community and the role of the local newspaper” is available at eckhartzpress.com.