During a recent interview with Spectrum News, Vice President Kamala Harris once again made a confident statement that turned out to be a blatant falsehood. This time, she claimed that women’s basketball did not have a bracket until 2022, which is a bizarre assertion considering the historical existence of such brackets.
“Do you know? Ok, a bit of a history lesson,” Harris told Spectrum News’ Tim Boynum. “Do you know that the women’s teams were not allowed to have brackets until 2022? Think about that… talk about progress, you know? Better late than ever,” Harris told Boynum.
Sports Fan Kamala Harris claims the NCAA women's basketball tournament was "not allowed to have brackets until 2022."
As usual, she is wrong. pic.twitter.com/QaRSsngSxP
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 5, 2024
Kamala’s assertion is incorrect, as women have been participating in their own NCAA Tournament in a March-Madness style format since 1982. Prior to that, from 1972 to 1982, they had a bracket-style tournament organized by the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women. Evidence of women’s brackets can be found online dating back to at least 1998, and it is likely that offline versions were circulating in offices and through email chains even earlier than that.
Interestingly, Harris herself tweeted about her husband’s bracket in 2021, a full year before the 2022 date she claimed as the first year for women’s brackets. This contradiction highlights a significant error on her part.
Congrats to @StanfordWBB, and their fans, on winning it all. Congrats to @ArizonaWBB on a great season.
And….yes, congrats to the @SecondGentleman. He called it. https://t.co/lYGnY4lT9B
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) April 5, 2021
It is conceivable that Harris was alluding to the fact that the trademark “March Madness” was exclusively applied to the women’s tournament in 2022 as opposed to the men’s original 1989 trademark. It is probable that this was her intended meaning. However, it is perplexing why the second most influential person in the world struggles so much with articulating her own ideas. Effective communication is a fundamental skill for any competent leader. Yet, this individual, who is next in line for the presidency, cannot even articulate her thoughts coherently enough to avoid sounding unintelligent on a regular basis. How can this be?