On Saturday April 5, No. 1 seeded Florida defeated No. 1 Auburn 79-73 in the first semifinal game of the NCAA Division 1 Men’s Basketball Championship while No. 1 Houston defeated No. 1 Duke 70-67 in the second semifinal game. The following Monday, Florida then defeated Houston in the championship game 65-63. This Final Four represented only the second time in the tournament’s history that all four of the top seeds reached the semifinal round, representing a departure from the usual “madness” of the tournament, officially titled and marketed as March Madness.

The first semifinal featured the top two teams from the Southeastern Conference a league that sent a record 14 of its 16 teams to the tournament this year. Though Florida trailed for most of the game, they rallied in the back-and-forth contest to claim the victory, partially due to the dominant performance of Gators Senior Walter Clayton Jr.. Clayton led the team with 34 points on 11/18 shots from the field.  

“Walter Clayton Jr. was at the forefront of their comeback. His confidence to throw up shots that other players are not confident enough in their ability to shoot, combined with his pure skill and talent, is what drove them all. The Florida players played a part in it, but I think Walter Clayton Jr. is what really drove their win,” John Brown University junior Lincoln Morphis said.

The second semifinal wasn’t close for most of the game with Duke holding a 14-point lead with a little over 8 minutes remaining. At this point, gave Duke a 98.5% chance to win the game. Then Houston pulled off an unlikely comeback to stun the Blue Devils, ending the game on a 9-0 in the last 30 seconds and leaving many to debate whether the game was more of a choke by Duke or a comeback by Houston.

“But even after a spree of inbounds failures, misses and mental gaffes, two key moments in the final 20 seconds from star freshman Cooper Flagg -- a foul and a miss -- capped the stunning meltdown,” ESPN writer Pete Thamel said.

However, Houston still made critical plays down the stretch to make the unlikely comeback possible, including several clutch free throws by J’Wan Roberts, who was only a 62.3% free throw shooter this season.

“I think [Houston] worked harder, and I’d hate to say it, but almost wanted it more than Duke did, at least in the way they played,” Morphis said.

The final game featured a contest where Houston led most of the game with their top-ranked defense, before the Florida offense finally broke loose late in the second half to take a 65-63 lead with only 19 seconds remaining. Houston still had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead on the final possession, but they failed to get a shot up as Emmanuel Sharpe turned the ball over and Florida ran the clock out.

While all three games were competitive and exciting for fans, this year’s edition of March Madness featured an unusually low number of upsets and no notable Cinderella runs which have become synonymous with the tournament.

“This year's men's NCAA Tournament will be remembered mostly for the lack of memorable upsets, with only power-conference schools making up the Sweet 16 for the first time since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985,” Detroit News writer Tony Paul said.

Lots of debate has been had as to the reason for this, but the prevailing theory is that the introduction of name, image and likeness deals allowing players to be paid to play and the increased usage of the transfer portal has stacked the talent toward the top programs with the most money.

“If I could really attribute it to anything, I’ve been hearing this and I’ve been agreeing with it. NIL deals have come into play majorly as far as top schools being able to all the top players around the country. We’ve seen it before, but I don’t think to this degree,” Morphis said.

This has led to some worry amongst fans, as the underdog runs have made March Madness famous for years, with some arguing that there will be far fewer Cinderella runs, with others thinking it’s a fluke.

“I do think this is a fluke. I do see the potential that it could be a little bit of an issue. Do I think I could be wrong? Absolutely. The game of basketball, it’s very much different from football. I think we’re much more likely to see these smaller schools just have an amazing day against one of these top-ranked schools that have a bit of an off day” Morphis said.

Still, others think it’s too early to tell.

“I don't think that we can say that yet. I think if we're in this spot again next year, we can say that” Oakland men’s basketball coach Greg Kampe said when talking about the end of March Madness underdog runs.

Either way, the effect that the higher seeds success will have on viewership remains unknown.

“So, I do think potentially if we saw less and less Cinderella runs, I think it’s going to lose that stereotype, that March Madness craze feel that it has had throughout history. If that continued, then I think you could possibly see a decline in viewership across games,” Morphis said.

According to Neilsen, the Final Four games received 15.3 million viewers, which is more than the previous 8 tournaments, though this is in part due to CBS holding the rights to the Final Four and Championship instead of cable. No matter how much Madness is actually in store for fans, it's clear from the viewership that the tournament is here to stay.

Photo courtesy of Markus Spiske on Unsplash

It is often thought that the NFL’s Super Bowl Halftime show is supposed to bring people together through music, yet some would also agree that several Halftime shows in the past have brought on enough controversy to potentially lose some viewership. Once thought as a family-centered event, the past few shows have especially inclined some parents to change the channel. Despite any statements the NFL makes about what their company is or represents, it is not intended to be a family channel but rather a sports entertainment network, pulling in viewers from around the world with the appeal for entertainment through football.

With that in mind, the Super Bowl Halftime show has never been about bringing others together in a communal sense but rather bringing viewers together. In the 1993 Super Bowl Halftime show, Michael Jackson’s performance brought the number of viewers to 133.4 million, a record which remained unbroken until 2025. Since then, the NFL has strived to find performers who would increase the viewings for the game and maintain their attention.

Super Bowl LIX’s halftime show featured multi-award-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar, whose popularity skyrocketed during last year after his song “Not Like Us” went viral. Leading up to the show, people debated just how much the NFL’s preview team would censor his global hit during the performance. After elaborate teasing throughout the show, Lamar finally played the song and though it was heavily censored, the infamous “A minor” line remained untouched, much to the joy of many in the stadium and watching at home.

At first, I questioned the NFL’s choice for the Halftime show performing artist, not to say Lamar isn’t a quality performer. He is well-known and well-respected, and has acquired well-deserved global success. Right now, Lamar is in the top five on Spotify and is the only music artist outside of the classical or jazz genres to receive the Pulitzer Prize in music. He is also one of the highest Grammy-winning rappers in history. As a matter of fact, many consider him the greatest rapper of all time. As far as qualification goes for who should perform at one of the biggest stages in America, there are few artists today who could meet the same recognition.

However, despite being one of the top artists on the planet, his very, very popular (yeah, that song) is also quite controversial: it is a diss track on the world-famous Canadian rapper Drake, who was named number eight on Billboard’s list of the “50 Greatest Rappers of All Time.” Lamar’s song “Not Like Us” being a shot at Drake happened to be one of the few things I knew about Lamar before the Super Bowl, so as I watched the first half of the game come to an end, I was a little tense—perhaps as much as the Chiefs fans—as I watched the show begin with my family. Would the NFL allow Lamar to defame Drake, uncensored? Shockingly, the NFL let Lamar throw his punches with little restraint. He wore his glittering silver necklace with the lowercase letter “a” as he and thousands upon thousands of others in the stadium shouted the lines, “Say, Drake, I hear you like ‘em young” and “Tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A minor,” which Genius.com argues could add to the allegations against Drake for grooming underage girls.

To be honest, I did not know much about Lamar before the Halftime show. I could only recognize the one song, and from the few lines I heard, it sounded like just another—if not brilliant—diss track. After much research and a handful of conversations with others, I realize that not all of Lamar’s music is about dissing other rappers, but the fact remained that Lamar performed “Not Like Us” at the show, and he was praised for it. The NFL didn’t seem to care much about what that could have meant for Drake before they agreed to have Lamar do the show. Everyone in the nation was in on the diss of Drake, and as far as the NFL was concerned, that was entertainment they could use.

I can’t really argue that a quicker wit with cleverer insults is hilarious material. With talk show hosts cornering celebrities about past flukes to high-grossing films featuring shock-effect quips from characters, we’re all ironically drawn to division and discourse. We like watching someone have the last word in a fight. We laugh when our leaders banter (The Wall Street Journal’s 2024 Presidential Debate YouTube videos between Biden, Trump and the following debate with Harris have a total combined viewing of 37 million views), and as long as it’s not directed at us, we can’t get enough of disrespect on a stage. Discourse entertainment has been embedded in our culture long enough to be naturally entertaining to us, but my hope is that this is not prescriptive but descriptive. Enjoying a rapper disrespecting another rapper in front of millions of people is what we enjoy now, but it’s not something we have to continue encouraging or striving for. We risk too much by leaving this unchecked. If we go on disrespecting each other, devaluing those we deem lesser than us, we’ll all be left laughing mockingly at each other from our sides of the line, chanting, “They not like us!”—excusing it all as harmless entertainment.

Photo courtesy of Dorel Gnatiuc on Unsplash

In recent years, people have begun to celebrate “Galentine's Day” on Feb. 13 in addition to Valentine's Day. Many attribute the origins of Galentines to a “Parks and Recreation” episode that aired on Feb. 11, 2010, where Leslie Knope, played by Amy Poehler, throws a party to honor the female friendships in her life. While Galentines parties can take any form — from a lovely brunch to a meticulously planned event — sometimes it can be nice to have a night in and watch a movie with those you care about the most. There are many movies over the years that have not only culturally impacted women all over the world but also displayed the importance of female friendships and sisterhood. These are just a few:

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005)

Four best friends, Tibby, Lena, Carmen and Bridget, find themselves in the charity shop one day with the perfect pair of pants: a pair that will fit each of them perfectly. As each friend goes their separate ways that summer, they decide to send the pants to each other so each can have a turn, writing of their adventures with the pants. While each girl is inexplicably different, they are close friends. As they learn of each other's troubles and worries throughout the summer, they comfort each other and help to make things right again. Originally a book, the story of “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” is one of strong female friendship that transcends conventional barriers.

Legally Blonde (2001)

“Legally Blonde” was not only a groundbreaking film 24 years ago but has continued to inspire young girls and women everywhere. Women can be heard quoting Elle Woods iconic line, “What, like it's hard?” whenever they come up against someone who doubts them, showing just how much of an impact this movie has had. In the film, Elle is trying to win her boyfriend back by joining him at Harvard Law School. There she learns that he has already found a fiancée, Vivian Kensington. While Elle and Vivian should have been enemies, hypothetically, the two lift each other up and apologize for any way they have mistreated the other before actually getting to know them. Elle and Vivian are only one of the great examples of a healthy female friendship in the film, and they continue to show others the importance of not just helping each other grow but also not judging a book by its cover.

Mamma Mia (2008)

In “Mama Mia” Donna is preparing for her daughter Sophie’s wedding when Sophie drops a bombshell: she has invited the three men that may potentially be her dad to her wedding. Donna hasn’t seen any of the men since the summer she spent with them years ago and is understandably overwhelmed at the news. Donna’s friends, Tonya and Rosie, are not only there for her in that moment, but, as seen in the second film, have been by her side the whole time as she raised Sophie as a single mother. The two help Donna through her emotions at seeing the three men again and help her decide what she wants to do about the identity of Sophie’s real father. This film shows the importance of community and how important it is for each woman to not only invest in those around her but also the younger generations.

Miss Congeniality (2000)

For many years, people have looked on the pageant industry as something that hurts young girls and is overall detrimental. While “Miss Congeniality” doesn’t portray all the realities of the pageant industry, it does show how the unique community it can bring to young girls and women can be extremely uplifting. In “Miss Congeniality” Special Agent Gracie Hart goes undercover to stop a terrorist attack at the Miss America competition. There, she meets many other women who she first writes off as vain and out of touch. As she starts to interact with them, however, she sees the power in their femininity and how important a strong female community can be.

Little Women (2019)

Originally a novel by Louisa May Alcott, “Little Women” follows the four March sisters through their adolescent years into adulthood. While three of the sisters, Jo, Meg and Amy, have left home, they all come back when they hear that Beth has become ill. As they comfort their sick sister, they must come to terms with the ways they have treated each other. “Little Women” is a story of sisterhood, both the good parts and the bad. While Alcott didn’t shy away from the hurt that the four sometimes caused each other, this story has gone down in history as one showing the love and unique bond in sisterhood.

The Barbie Movie (2023)

Greta Gerwig’s critically acclaimed film “Barbie” follows Barbie, who seems to have the perfect life in BarbieLand. One day, Barbie starts to have new thoughts and feelings and learns that it means something is wrong with her owner in the real world. Barbie decides to travel there to see if she can make things better with Ken, played by Ryan Gosling. Once the two find themselves in the real world, they realize that it isn’t the perfect place that they thought they had helped influence it to be. Barbie decides to take her owner, Gloria, and her daughter, Sasha, back to BarbieLand to show them how great it is, however, once there, Barbie realizes that Ken has brought new ideas of the patriarchy from the real world to BarbieLand. As Barbie and her friends try to fix all that has gone wrong, they learn the powerful lesson of not being who you are and that you don’t need anyone else to decide what you are worthy of.

Oceans 8 (2018)

 “Oceans 8” is the newest installment of the Oceans franchise that was rebooted in 2001 with George Clooney playing Danny Ocean. While the older movies feature a star-studded all male cast, “Ocean’s 8” switched things up, following Debbie Ocean, Danny’s sister. The film begins with Debbie getting released from jail and unfolds as she starts to plan her next heist. As she selects each of the seven she needs to help her complete the task at hand, Debbie focuses on the skills that each might bring to the job. Debbie surrounds herself with an all-female crew, even with that not being her intention going into it. As viewers watch them work together to pull off the heist, they see the power in women standing up for themselves and working together to make the impossible happen.

Hidden Figures (2016)

“Hidden Figures” follows three African-American women, Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughn, and their work for NASA in 1961 during the height of segregation. As each of the three are given the possibility for a promotion inside NASA, they lift each other up to overcome the obstacles at work and home. Katherine, Mary and Dorothy can be seen pouring into one another not just in their personal lives but also in their professional lives. As the movie continues, the three also work in the hearts of their coworkers around them and help to unite the community within NASA under the common goal of winning the Space Race. This true story of female friendship and the power of working together is one for the ages.

Photo Courtesy of Engin Akyurt on Pexels