最近三周，全美的体育迷们会焦急地在手机上查看比赛结果，员工们在网上偷偷看比赛，体育酒吧挤满了看电视的顾客。爆冷、逆转、热血、绝杀... 疯狂三月来袭！
如果你还不知道什么是风靡全美的March Madness, 快来看看吧！
In short, it’s an end-of-season tournament the NCAA hosts for a select number of Division I basketball teams. The first was held in 1939, and the Oregon Ducks whipped the Ohio State University 46-33.
简而言之，“疯狂三月”是一场赛季末的锦标赛，由美国大学生体育协会精选一批甲级篮球队主办，是美国最大的全国性体育赛事之一。1939年举行第一届，当时俄勒冈野鸭队以46比33击败了俄亥俄州立大学。
An aside, but it wasn’t until 1982 that March Madness got its moniker. Sportscaster Brent Musburger coined the phrase while working as a writer for a Chicago paper.
事实上，直到1982年，体育播音员布伦特·马斯伯格在为芝加哥一家报纸撰稿时，才创造了“疯狂三月”这个绰号。
之所以称之为疯狂，是因为全国有很多比赛，几乎在三月份接二连三地进行。不像大学足球只有两支球队有机会在常规赛结束时赢得全国冠军，篮球赛中任何事情都可能发生，尤其是末尾队伍可能爆冷成为大黑马。因此，疯狂三月会产生大量轰动。
Over the past 82 years, the tournament has swelled, and now it includes 64 teams, with a bonus four teams called, creatively, The First Four, which (you guessed it) are the first four to play. So, 68 total.
在过去82年里，比赛规模不断扩大，从初创时只有8所大学参加，一直到1985年，现在对阵表中的64支队伍的雏形初次显现。2001年，MWC联盟加入D1，这一变动也使得具备资格的疯狂三月球队数量达到了65支，此时NCAA就决定在正式的淘汰赛开始前率先进行一轮比赛，决出最后入选的64支球队。2011年，参赛的总球队数扩大到了68支，这也就意味着其中的8支球队会先进行捉对厮杀，其中的4位胜者将与其他60支球队一起组成最终的64强。
怎样获得晋级资格
Teams are selected via an NCAA committee that has an eye-blurring amount of rules, but in short there are 32 top teams that receive an automatic berth and then the remainder of slots are filled based loosely on their record within and without their conference. They’re seeded into a family-tree-like bracket where the best teams meet the worst teams (relatively speaking) first, advancing round by round and weekend by weekend in sudden-death matchups until the championship game.
有两种方式可以晋级NCAA疯狂三月。32个来自D1的分区联盟，每个联盟会获得一个自动参赛名额，这个名额通常会给到在联盟锦标赛夺冠的球队。无论某所大学在常规赛的发挥如何，只要他能获得晋级联盟锦标赛的机会并夺得冠军，就能自动晋级疯狂三月。
除此之外，NCAA官方会授权给评选委员会(Selection Committee)。评选委员们会根据当赛季疯狂三月前所有比赛的战绩、联盟强弱、赛程强弱等因素决定哪36支球队会赢得剩下的疯狂三月的入场券以及这之中哪8支球队会率先进行首轮的比赛。每年三月中旬的一个周日（Selection Sunday），评选委员会将在电视直播上给出最终的疯狂三月对阵表。通常为树状分组，最差的球队会先遇到最好的球队，在突围赛中一轮轮前进，直到冠军赛。
So why do so many people get so excited about an end-of-season tourney? In short, gambling . Filling out the bracket, in which you predict round by round winners and losers through the final, is a tradition for both the common man and U.S. president alike, and often friends and colleagues will compete for cash, vacation days, or other sundry prizes. Plenty of online sportsbooks also have ways to wager your monthly rent. Here is the official 2021 bracket, but the exact teams, as well as their first-round matchups, are released in one mass dump, known colloquially as “Selection Sunday.”
为什么有那么多人对季末的锦标赛如此兴奋呢？简而言之——它是一场疯狂的赌博。对普通人甚至美国总统来说，在Selection Sunday之前预测比赛对阵表是一项传统。你可以一圈一圈地预测最终的赢家和输家，也可以和朋友与同事们赌上现金、假期或者其他各种奖品。许多在线体育博彩网站也有办法用月租金来下注。
But before you begin counting your earnings, just know that the odds of hitting a perfect bracket round for round are a long, long, long shot: 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 if you were to flip a coin for picks, and while it’s better if you’re actually selecting based on knowledge, the NCAA claims the odds are still about one in 120 billion. The longest verifiable streak recorded was 49 games (of 67) in 2019.
在你开始计算你的收益之前，你要知道，在每一轮的选择中，所有选择区都正确的几率是非常非常小的: 如果你通过抛硬币来选择，你的几率是9223,372,036,854,775,808分之一。尽管你根据自己对球队的了解的来做出更理性的选择，但美国大学生体育协会称，全部正确的几率仍然是1200亿分之一。而可证实的最长连胜纪录是2019年的49场(一共67场)。
“疯狂三月博彩”如何运作？
Traditionally (read: non-COVID-19 times), the tournament would rotate from publicly funded boondoggle stadium to publicly funded boondoggle stadium across the country from week to week and round to round. This year the entire tournament will be run entirely in Indiana, with most games in Indianapolis, over the course of about a month, as you cannot have athletes flying all over the U.S. like planes full of Outbreak monkeys or we will not be allowed to leave our homes before 2023.
疫情前，比赛会在全国各地公立的闲置的露天体育场之间轮流进行，周而复始，一轮又一轮。今年整个比赛将全部在印第安纳州进行，大部分比赛将在印第安纳波利斯进行，时间大约为一个月。毕竟你不能让运动员满美国乱飞，不然的话，恐怕在2023年之前我们都无法出门了。
As previously mentioned, the First Four starts the tournament with a mini-bracket, which is contested on March 18. The first round occurs on March 19 and 20, the second round from March 21 to 22, Sweet 16 the following week between March 27 and 28, the Elite Eight between March 29 and 30, the Final Four on April 3, and the National Championship on April 5.
如上所述，疯狂三月共有4个分区，率先进行比赛的八支球队将决出每个分区的16号种子，这一轮比赛也被称为“First Four”，其余的60支球队按照被划分的分区，每个分区的15支球队会获得从1至15的种子排名。3月18日，First Four拉开帷幕。3月19日和20日进行第一轮比赛，3月21日至22日进行第二轮，3月27日至28日进行下一周的16强，3月29日至30日进行八强赛，4月3日进行四强赛，4月5日进行全国锦标赛。
So is a benign form of gambling the only interesting part of March Madness? Hardly. The best part, besides a jingoistic loyalty to the only school in your state that made it into the tournament, is the long shots. Many teams are essentially cannon fodder for the top seeds — until they’re not. Every year, unheralded colleges become giant-killers, leaving a trail of stunned Duke fans in their wake. These are generally called the Cinderella stories of the tournament, a rags-to-riches allusion that most people get.
那么这种良性的赌博形式是 "疯狂三月 "唯一有趣的部分吗？往往不是。最精彩的部分，除了为你所在州唯一进入锦标赛的学校疯狂打call之外，就是赌一匹黑马了。许多球队基本上都是顶级种子队的炮灰--直到他们逆袭。每年都有不被看好的大学成功干掉王者，在他们的身后留下一串惊呆了的杜克球迷。这些（往往）被称为赛事中的灰姑娘故事，这种老掉牙的典故，大多数人都懂。
The number-one upset of all time? A scrappy last-place 16-seed University of Maryland, Baltimore County struck down one-seed Virginia in 2018. Even rewatching the game is epic.
史上最懊恼的时刻？2018年，马里兰大学巴尔的摩郡分校最后一名16号种子拼尽全力击溃了弗吉尼亚一号种子。即使现在回看，这场比赛也是史诗级的。
There is also a women’s March Madness that takes place around the same time of the year, although in 2021 its location is in San Antonio, Tex.
还有一场女子 "疯狂三月 "也是在每年的同一时间举行，不过它将于2021年在德克萨斯州的圣安东尼奥举办。
Where to watch? All 67 games will be shown across a number of CBS and Turner Sports entities, including TBS, CBS, TNT, and truTV, along with their respective digital platforms, as well as March Madness Live.
在哪里观看？所有67场比赛将在CBS和Turner Sports的一些实体平台上播放，包括TBS，CBS，TNT和truTV，以及他们各自的数字平台，以及疯狂三月直播平台。
So here’s your checklist: Wait for the teams to be announced on March 14, fill out your bracket, and prepare to hate-watch schools you applied for but never got in. NCAA March Madness only happens once a year, and the witching hour is nearly upon us.
这就是你的准备清单了。等待3月14日公布球队名单，开始你对比赛对阵表的预测，准备好仇恨地看着那些你申请了但没能进入的学校吧！
NCAA "疯狂三月 "每年只发生一次，而这个疯狂的时刻即将来临。
编译 | 陈雨昕 周诗嘉 王嘉誉 刘海燕
排版 | 刘海燕
