rock chalk

I love college basketball.

it’s up there with whales.

I love so many things about it.  I love the pace of the games.  I love the ever-changing nature of the score, the lead, even the rankings, and the always evolving teams.  I love the fans.  I love the commitment / devotion / passion / absolute madness of the fans, coaches, players, etc…

I am lucky to have been raised in a family by a man who loves sports, one of them being basketball.  I am especially lucky to have been raised by a KU fan who was raised by KU fans.  I believe KU has the greatest college basketball program ever ever ever ever ever.  I could bore you with the history of the program to explain why, but if you're reading this you already know or don't care... I can remember college basketball being on T.V. throughout my entire childhood.  Long before I paid any attention, I remember playing on the floor while my dad or dad and grandfather watched  - and listening to the fans, the commentators, and the shoes squeak on the floor.  Those sounds are still comforting to me.  I still love watching basketball - any basketball - with my dad. 

I spent portions of every summer of my childhood visiting my grandparents in Lawrence, Kansas where basketball was like religion.  It was rarely ever basketball season while I was there, but I still knew how important it was.  There is something magical in the air in Lawrence.  Some would argue that it’s the crazy-thick humidity mixed with my own fairy-tale memories of summers with Pup & Gram and my siblings… Okay, so that’s partially true.  But I would argue that there is some kind of mysterious basketball energy mixed in there somewhere.  Perhaps it radiates from the pretty little cemetery where Dr. Naismith and my grandparents rest. 

back to college basketball - I even love the heartbreak.  When it comes to tournament season, it is likely that your heart will be broken.  Winning the national championship is an incredibly momentous achievement that many times could have gone to a dozen different teams if any number of games had ended one second earlier, or one second later.  I love it because there is always next year.  I also love love… and loving a team like the Jayhawks through every heartbreak is about as unconditional a love as any. 

k so… I told this story because March Madness begins this week.  There is nothing in the world like this tournament.  These athletes all over the country who work their whole lives to play even one minute on this stage have to be admired.  The window of time that any of them have a shot at this victory is so small. 

I simply cannot wait. 

here’s to this year (fingers crossed)… and to next year too. 

i am so geeked out on this stuff: