As I mentioned in the main post, The Illustrated Book of Sayings is a loosely related follow up to Lost In Translation. Longtime readers will recall how my fascination with Lost In Translation led to the infamous TOA ‘Word Bracket’, a mock tournament where I pitted my favorite sixteen words from the book in head-to-head comparisons until I determined my favorite word.
A hidden but important reason why I put the ‘tournament’ together is my long-running fascination with competition formats (yes, you read that correctly). I’ve always enjoyed reading up about the different structures used in various leagues, tournaments, and competitions around the world. Over time, I’ve come to the conclusion that the competition format has a far greater influence over the eventual popularity of the competition than the nature of the competition itself.
There is no better example of this than the NCAA Men’s Division I basketball tournament. I assume every reader is familiar with this tournament nicknamed ‘March Madness’ and those who follow sports even just casually will know the tournament for its wild finishes, crazy upsets, and Cinderella runs by underdog teams. But when I think about the reasons for the tournament’s popularity, it’s hard to get past the single-elimination bracket format. There are many reasons why this tournament structure tends to create the most popularity. Above all the factors, it infuses every game with the possibility of elimination – in other words, it means every game counts. I think this is why the bracket format reigns supreme over all the other options – there is nothing worse for a competition than an uncompetitive contest.
