The University of Maryland, Baltimore County has managed to turn a singular, glorious upset into a permanent personality trait. They are the only team in NCAA history to defeat a number one seed as a sixteen seed, and they have made sure that we never, ever forget it. Every March, the sports media machine exhumes their carcass to remind us of the time they embarrassed Virginia.

It is the basketball equivalent of the guy who still talks about his high school touchdown pass while sitting on a barstool at age forty. Key facts regarding their claim to fame: - The 2018 NCAA tournament saw the sixteen-seed UMBC Retrievers dismantle the top-seeded Virginia Cavaliers. - The final score was a humiliating 74-54 blowout.

- Virginia had been the overwhelming favorite to win the entire tournament before their abrupt exit. - UMBC has returned to obscurity with the reliability of a Swiss watch ever since. This trend persists because casual sports fans desperately crave the myth of the underdog.

We love the idea that a group of scrappy students can topple the giants of the ACC, even if those students have done absolutely nothing of note in the half-decade that followed. It is not just about the game itself, but the branding of the failure. Virginia became the punchline, and UMBC became the mascot for every frustrated sports fan who enjoys watching a titan trip over its own shoelaces.

Is there anything more pathetic than a school that updates its media guide specifically to highlight a game that happened before half its current roster was even enrolled? If you think this is peak college athletics, wait until you hear about how many other schools are desperately trying to manufacture their own miracle for the clout. Will another sixteen-seed ever manage to replicate this, or are we destined to keep worshipping at the altar of the 2018 Retrievers until the heat death of the universe?