Basketball on the Brain

Ok, I admit, I love basketball season! These past few months have been great (despite the snowy, cold weather) because I've been able to come back from dinner, turn on ESPN and watch basketball whenever my heart desired. My roommates probably think I'm a little obsessed and are probably wondering how much longer this routine will last. Oh, just another month or so. But if they think that ESPN was on a lot in the previous months, just wait, because this month is the best...March Madness baby!

Whenever I watch a close, intense college game, a buzz of excitement fills me and I just love it. I think it's because I still vividly remember some of the close, intense games that I played in. The warm-up music, the fans, the atmosphere, the competition- all that is what makes basketball such a fun sport. I just can't imagine the same kind of thing for say, a golf tournament. Granted, Tiger Woods can bring some pretty fierce competition, but for me the atmosphere on a golf course would be nowhere near that of a basketball arena.

Last weekend as I was leaving the Ethnic Arts Festival early in order to get back to watch the Duke/North Carolina game, I realized how popular the sport of basketball is. I was opting out of a really cool Ethnic Arts show that's only once a year just so I could go watch college basketball which I could see any night. How bad is that?

At lunch Saturday afternoon I heard quite a few of the guys talking about good games that were going to be on TV, and how homework would just have to wait until Sunday. Just think about how many people will take part in some sort of March Madness bracket competition, or how many people will be locked in front of their TV sets once the NCAA tournament gets started. People will go so far as skipping work and class to see games- or perhaps they will just sneak in a lap top or IPOD so that they can watch or listen to the games in class. Basketball is a big deal!

So as Selection Sunday approaches, I anxiously await and try to figure out which bubble teams are in and which will get bounced. The past months' games are all culminating at the conference tournaments. This is the time when teams' hard work either pays off or their hopes are dashed. This is the time that every player, coach, and fan loves best: March- where basketball rules the brain.