Collegian | Michael Bachmann
Mossey Library is one of the last places you’d expect to be influenced by basketball. Yet, every year, Mossey Library hosts “Mossey Madness,” a literary competition based on the March Madness NCAA Division I basketball tournament. This year’s theme is plays versus movies.
The competition is run by Brenna Wade, Mossey Library’s public services librarian.
“Out of Print Books is a publishing company that made a book madness bracket that was available to everybody, and then I decided to try to do that here,” Wade said.
The competition began eight years ago and rotates through five separate themes.
“Trying to come up with different themes was very challenging, but we have an AV collection, so I chose to make a plays vs. movies theme,” said Wade.
Past themes have included classics, authors, heroes versus villains, and a battle of genres.
Voting is done online by students through the library website. The first two rounds will be hosted March 7 through March 9, and from March 10 through March 12.
“I see the tally and calculate the winners,” said Wade. “It’s not uncommon to get ties, but the second year I did this, there was a major upset. William Wordsworth beat out William Shakespeare in the elite eight. Don’t ask me how that happened because I do not know. I double checked it and couldn’t believe the result.”
Because students often develop strong opinions about who should win, Wade set up a whiteboard in the library for students to share their thoughts.
“One year, someone wrote an entire essay out on the whiteboard, and other people had written comments in the margins,” said Wade. “It was fabulous. They were taking umbrage at the fact that I had put Gandalf and Aslan as a first round matchup.”
These conversations are not limited to the library walls, however.
“I was righteously outraged at the fact that Walt Whitman beat Edgar Allen Poe and Emily Dickinson one year,” senior Sarah Wagoner said. “I find it fun to talk to the English majors about Mossey Madness because they have very strong opinions about authors and their works.”
Wagoner has been participating in Mossey Madness since her freshman year when she and her roommate placed a bet on whether “Lord of the Rings” or Homer’s “Odyssey” would win.
“They ended up being the final two, which made the bet all the more terrifying because we both thought that they would be out within the first couple of rounds,” Wagoner said. “‘Lord of the Rings’ won that year, and I was very happy because I won the bet. Free coffee for me!”
Wagoner said she sometimes finds it challenging to choose between works.
“‘Fiddler on the Roof’ versus ‘Les Miserables’ was very hard for me,” said Wagoner.
Freshman Anna Jackson said she believes that either ‘Les Miserables’ or ‘Lord of the Rings’ could win.
“I work at the library,” Jackson said. “I can tell you exactly how many times I’ve had to re-check in The Lord of the Rings movies—at least I could if I had kept count. It’s just going to win.”
Wagoner said she is curious about a different outcome.
“I would love to see a matchup of ‘Lion King’ and ‘Hamlet’ because they’re the same story from different perspectives.”