* On March 17th, 1939 the first NCAA tournament game in history tipped off at the Palestra in Pennsylvania. The Villanova Wildcats defeated the Brown Bears, 42-30.

* On March 17th, 1989 Alonzo Mourning blocked two shots in the last six seconds of the game to permit No. 1 seed Georgetown to avoid an upset at the hands of #16-seed Princeton, 50-49.

* The patron saint of Ireland St. Patrick was born in Scotland in the year 387.

* Blue was the color originally associated with Saint Patrick, but over the years the color green’s affiliation with Saint Patrick’s Day grew. Now it’s common to sport green attire and to drink green beer in celebration of St. Paddy’s.

* Paddy is derived from the Irish male name Pádraig.

* NYC’s Saint Patrick’s Day parade has become the largest in the world. In a typical year, 150,000 marchers participate in it, and 2 million spectators line the streets.