March Sadness

March is probably my favorite month for one reason: the Madness. Growing up in Kentucky it was basically a foregone conclusion that I would be raised on college basketball.  One of my earliest and favorite basketball memories was in 1986.  UL was playing Duke in the NCAA championship game.  My brother Scott and I were allowed to stay up late to watch the whole game.  We were all at my Grandpa Benny and Grandma Birdie's house.  At age 8, this was my first chance to cheer against Duke, many subsequent opportunities would follow and thanks to Christian Laettner, I would actually get to develop a grudge against the team. But then, Grant Hill was also on that team, who I kind of loved... but I digress. The 1986 final was a great game. Never-Nervous Pervis, are you kidding me? The best. When UL (Go Cards!) beat Duke my brother (then 6) actually cried.  He hated Louisville then.  How times change. Anyhoo, I have watched the tournament every year since. 

In high school we watched games in between classes (and sometimes during class) in the student lounge.  In college, well, we were almost mandated by the administration and coach Knight at IU to watch the games. In Boston, I think they set up a TV in the library at GHP (my office) and Jodie, Mamta, and I definitely watched the night games together in our basement apartment.  I'm pretty sure Jodie and I cheered against Duke, sadly for Mamta, but all three us of cheered on the Cards together.  Somewhere between Boston and Austin, Brooke and I spent countless nights in random bars cheering on the Hoosiers to (almost) victory in 2002.  In grad school at Texas, I spent whole days at the Fox and Hound with Mehul watching games until my eyes bugged out of my head (still cheering against Duke, much to Becca's chagrin).  In 2003, many of us actually went to see some of the games live in San Antonio and when Texas made it to the Final Four, Mehul made sure that we were in New Orleans at the games.  Even when I had a for real career-like job in DC I kept an eye on the games in real time online (thank you CBS Sportsline!) and occasionally wandered downstairs to the office gym to watch close games. I am nothing if not dedicated.

Besides only being able to watch the games online and not on my actual TV, the saddest part of my March is that no one here cares.  At all.  In fact, no one even knows that they should be caring about something.  When I go into work on Tuesday (4 day weekend for Easter holiday-- but I like to think of it as days off work in honor of the first two rounds) no one is going to have the foggiest idea what I am talking about when I exclaim how well I am doing in my Hoopla pool, I lament about how Kentucky and Indiana have already lost, round 1, or I complain about my sensory overload.  Because really, the best part of March Madness is sitting around with friends watching 4 games at once, trying to remember the brackets you filled out, eating chicken fingers and fries with honey mustard or other bar food and complaining about how much your eyes burn from too much television.  Oh. What fun. 

This year, Andy and I will be watching the games online, checking our brackets, and drinking tea and eating biscuits in a country where no one else but us cares.  At least I have the blog to wax nostalgic. 

And while I can't possibly stay up for all of the 9:30 EST games (because it's like 1:30 am until day light savings when it's 2:30 am) though I may try, I will definitely be slingboxing 'One Shining Moment' and watching it later. What is it about that song? Luther Vandross's voice gives me chills.  In fact, I am going to YouTube past years right now.  Love that Montage.