Fodder for bar bets

The term "March Madness" today is synonymous with the College Basketball Tournament, but the nickname was first used to describe another basketball tournament -- the annual Illinois High School Association Tournament. Henry V. Porter is credited with coining the phrase in his 1939 article for the Illinois Interscholastic magazine.

The term was not used to describe the College Basketball Tournament until 1982, when Brent Musburger a CBS reporter used the term during the telecast of a tournament game. College basketball fans and the media have been using the term ever since.