Perhaps it should come as no surprise (except maybe to Mendeleev) that even sports are not immune to periodic tabling. The venerable New York Times succumbed to the allure by creating a periodic table of all the teams in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, aka March Madness (Sunday, 5 April 2008, page D1).

This year’s finalists (Memphis and Kansas) occupy the positions usually reserved for He and Ne. Fitting, perhaps, as such elements are stable, unreactive, and noble. The year’s surprising Cinderella team (Davidson) was, naturally enough, a transition metal, lacking in enough outer electrons to be truly noble.

How about the chemistry powerhouses? Taking only those schools with chemistry departments ranked in the top 20, Cornell and Stanford played in the first round, with the latter going out in the “sweet 16.” Indiana lost in round one, but Texas made it to the “elite 8.” And both UCLA and North Carolina made the “final four.”

The lesson? Top-quality science and winning athletic teams aren’t incompatible. They may even be good chemistry!