Show an empty tournament bracket to a random sample of Americans and they’re likely to make the same instant association: NCAA basketball.
This simple design, which is used whenever a competition needs to winnow a large group of contestants to a single winner, has become a much-admired cultural meme. If there were a hall of fame for sports graphics, the bracket would be the first inductee.
But as ubiquitous as brackets have become, they’re also the center of a surprising mystery: Nobody knows for sure where the idea came from.
Read it all.
(WSJ) Where Was the Bracket Born?
Show an empty tournament bracket to a random sample of Americans and they’re likely to make the same instant association: NCAA basketball.
This simple design, which is used whenever a competition needs to winnow a large group of contestants to a single winner, has become a much-admired cultural meme. If there were a hall of fame for sports graphics, the bracket would be the first inductee.
But as ubiquitous as brackets have become, they’re also the center of a surprising mystery: Nobody knows for sure where the idea came from.
Read it all.