As of approximately 8 a.m. EST, planet Earth has rotated seven times in the month of March. Just one week in, the thrills of the third month of the year have already begun; two days ago in men’s basketball, the 10th-seeded Jacksonville Dolphins upset the top-seeded Eastern Kentucky Colonels in the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament. That same evening, Cleveland Cavaliers guard Dean Wade outscored the Boston Celtics by himself in the fourth quarter as his team completed a 22-point comeback.
Within the past week, Iowa guard Caitlin Clark became the all-time leading scorer in Division I basketball history. Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James became the first player in the National Basketball Association to score 40,000 career points.
Historic moments and milestones like these make March the best month of the year. The fun is just getting started.
It begins with college basketball’s premiere event: March Madness. 68 teams in both men’s and women’s basketball compete for the chance to bring home a national championship. Once the field has been revealed on Selection Sunday, people like me create their brackets and pick who wins it all. Everyone, from co-workers to the president of the United States, gets in on the fun of making what they hope will be a perfect bracket.
Watching the Round of 64 games has become as much of a national pastime in the United States as watching baseball. The Thursday and Friday after Selection Sunday are the two days of the year where I find it the hardest to get any work done. Between men’s and women’s college basketball, there are several marquee single-elimination matchups that can grab anyone’s attention, including mine.
March is also the month of NCAA ice hockey tournaments, at least for the 27 total teams between men’s and women’s hockey that qualify for them. While college hockey is not as popular as college basketball or even college football, their games are still fun to watch. Part of that is because they are single-elimination contests, but college hockey’s atmosphere can make each battle a joy to watch. Both championship games last year were decided by a goal, with the Quinnipiac men’s hockey team winning the national title 10 seconds into overtime.
Even though three out of those four tournaments go into the first week of April, the most exciting moments come during those weekends in March. Collegiate sports are not the only ones who get in on the fun, however.
Between the National Hockey League and the NBA, most of the 62 teams are still competing for a playoff spot. Although both seasons end in early April, very few clubs are officially out of playoff contention when March begins. Those that do usually have the highest chances to earn the first overall pick in their respective draft lotteries.
The NBA’s Play-In Tournament means that two additional teams from each conference can compete for a chance at securing one of the two lowest seeds. It is almost like the MLB’s single-elimination Wild Card Games. The only difference is that the winner in the battle between seventh and eighth place goes directly to the playoffs while the loser’s postseason hopes to live another day. Competing for those play-in berths allows more teams to play meaningful basketball during the final weeks of the year.
In the NHL, the playoff push begins once the trade deadline ends. Although there is no play-in tournament, finishing within the top four in an eight-team division is ideal. Just to get a glimpse of how heated the competition can be, second through seventh place in the Metropolitan Division are separated by 14 points as of 5 p.m. yesterday. The Stanley Cup Playoffs are fun to watch, but getting there makes watching hockey that much more interesting.
March is when the vernal equinox occurs. In the spirit of spring, baseball fans breathe in a whiff of fresh air and await Opening Day for the MLB. It always energizes baseball fans like me and marks the start of another exciting season. The only times when Opening Day may unofficially occur earlier in the month is if the league does international events such as this year’s Seoul Series. Those contests count toward the regular season record.
Spring Training, which takes up the rest of March, also creates some notable buzz. Most of that comes from big-name prospects and marquee acquisitions producing in either Arizona or Florida. Prospects specifically gain valuable experience against big league veterans in Spring Training that help them get better. Hearing that a top prospect has broken camp and made a Major League roster satisfies me even more.
While March is the most exciting month for sports, October and June are incredible in their own right. Despite the intensity that they bring, however, I feel like there are fewer teams competing for glory during those times.
October has a playoff chase in Major League Soccer culminating in Decision Day while Major League Baseball has their 12-team postseason. These thrilling events, along with three other regular seasons, typically result in most of the sport equinoxes that have occurred in history. June, meanwhile, has two critical championship series, the NBA and Stanley Cup Finals. Every other sport that month, including most spring sports in college, is either not in action or does not have that much on the line.
There is something different about March, however. Intense action and critical games (such as North Carolina vs. Duke) fill every single day in a way that no other month can.
March is named after Mars, the Roman god of War. Regardless of the sport, the third month of the year is nothing short of a thrilling competition that will have fans on the edge of their seats. With how the first seven days have gone, I cannot wait to see what the rest of March has in store.