March Sadness 90s Edition

We now have 59 of 64 tourney essays in hand! Getting excited for MARCH SADNESS 90s EDITION KICKING OFF 3/1

I wanted to see if I could write an essay in the form of a Mad Lib and Pearl Jam provided the perfect opportunity ☺️

"Mad Lib of Longing" is an essay about wishing that's only complete with the reader's input—thanks to the @marchxness.bsky.social team for giving my experiment a home!

Essays — March Sadness 90s Edition

Here, @abigailoswald.bsky.social delivers on a fabulous conceit for a @marchxness.bsky.social essay & does so with my favorite band's song.

Abigail - Thank you for giving power to wishes and the lists of them we keep.

marchxness.com/the-essays?u...

tuff one that

This may the most difficult @marchxness.bsky.social bracket yet. My only criterion was "saddest song," but that soon turned out to be nearly impossible. I mean, "I Can't Make You Love Me" vs. "Last Day of Our Acquaintence"? Come on!

For Extracurricular Friday we bring you @abigailoswald.bsky.social's Mad Lib of Longing (on Pearl Jam's "Wishlist")! Read it on the substack or the website: marchxness.com/the-essays#/...

I was gonna have "Crossroads" to take it all, but the author had to drop. (I never bet on my own essay to win, and especially not this year with "November Rain" being a #1 seed!)

YouTube video by Amorica - Womb of the Free The Black Crowes - 01 September 1992 - Constitution Hall - Washington, DC

filing my Black Crowes @marchxness.bsky.social essay tonight. Prepare Thy Self by literally watching the show I saw in 1992. It was the first concert I had my parents take me to (rather than a family thing).

NIN's "Hurt" is ineligible as it played in a previous tournament (original March Sadness, 2016 edition). We don't repeat songs. Would have been a contendah tho.

This will be fun! Even if it is absolutely CRIMINAL that Nine Inch Nails’ Hurt is missing, and someone picked the wrong Nirvana song. Super happy (sad?) to see Elliot Smith and Ms. Lauryn Hill on here though.

So many hard choices here! I'm repping Patty Loveless's "You Don't Even Know Who I Am" but turned in a bracket with Elliott Smith's "Between the Bars" winning it all.

#98 / A Cold, Snowy Winter Hello! I know I missed a new moon already. I was waiting to show you my book review, which published a few days after the new moon. Then I got busy writing...

I wrote about Minneapolis, George Saunders, and @marchxness.bsky.social.

You do your bracket the way you need to do it, but I just rewatched the video for Runaway Train for the first time in maybe 30yrs and IT DESTROYED ME

We’ve got this, #lambs. Mariah’s parallel status as Queen of Sadness shall go unrecognized no more.

ARRRREEEE YOUUUUU READDDDYYYYY

there are some nasty matchups this time around for SURE

Bracketing "Uninvited" against "I Can't Make You Love Me" feels like a direct shot at me. I feel attacked. That should be at least a Final Four Matchup—if not a title game bout. And it could be a 2nd round matchup?!

Glad I'm not writing this year and can just read and play.

Finally time to make your pics!

the best way to get all the tourney details is to be on the substack! We do calls out for extracurricular essays and notify folks about the tournament lottery each year on social media too but the main comms for March Xness are the substack

My time to shine baby!

You want to get on the page, here’s the bracket. I’m in the NE conference and going up against some tearjerkers.

Presently have Celine going all the way. But "Brick" might actually be the saddest song of all time, so not 100% decided yet.

not 100% too late if you find yourself still chewing on an idea; we often run a few in April post-tourney

Did not get around to pitching an essay but am ready to make this bracket my personality next month. Elliott Smith to go all the way.

Bringing the 90s sadness to you baby, one music essay at a time!

Savage Garden fans, I gotchu

March Sadness 90s Edition Bracket is Live: marchxness.com

One more late tournament update is that we lost another writer, but @kjmoulton.bsky.social is off the bench and has selected Hootie and the Blowfish's "Let Her Cry," which comes in as a 7-seed. It won't affect the rest of the bracket, which we will release today!

Man I felt this one pretty hard