That game turned me into a college basketball fan! After that game, I spent countless hours collecting magazine articles, newspaper articles, anything I could find and compiling them into my Duke Blue Devils super fan scrapbook. I was obsessed. I have great memories after that of filling out brackets annually with my little brother who would painstakingly write them out by hand and paste them up on his bedroom wall. Making our picks holds great memories for me.
The tradition has carried down now officially to our children. We’ve been watching a fair amount of college ball around here since our friend Tyler Hansbrough (from my hometown of Poplar Bluff, MO and incidentally whom I used to babysit!) has become the front man for the North Carolina Tar Heels and this season’s Sports Illustrated Player of the Year. We have a basketball in the boys’ room autographed by both Tyler and Ben (now at Mississippi State) that their family gave to us when Richie was born…way back when the biggest news about them was their leading the Poplar Bluff High School team to their second Missouri State championship. Now, we watch them on tv and somehow it never gets old seeing them play. We just sit back and think about how amazing it is that kids from our little neck of the woods in MO are making such a big name for themselves. We’re so proud of them. And our kids get SO excited to watch them play. Needless to say, my old loyalties to Duke have suffered a tragic end as we are now a family fully devoted to the Tar Heels and their quest to dominate college hoops!Tonight, we had a family meeting after church. Each of us who are able to write…which did not include Richie who preferred to watch an episode of Wow Wow Wubbzy…gathered at the kitchen table with our printed brackets. We gave the kids a short lesson in bracketology and then proceeded to fill out our picks. We all, of course, have UNC taking it all except for Avery who seemed to go her own way on most of her choices despite our instructions that a #1 will nearly ALWAYS beat a #16. Richard and I placed our brackets on the fridge along with Avery who did not want to “lose hers under the bed,” while Carson has decided to sleep with his. Perhaps he’s going to pray over it later.
Now, the wait is on for Thursday when the games begin. I’m anticipating great joy watching how our picks play out and even greater joy if the Heels take it all! It’s March Madness, BABY!!
3 comments:
You're killin me! That's hysterical. To be honest, I would just about pay money to watch you, watch a game! I gotta see the timid Christie I first met screaming and hoopin and hollerin!
Tim said he was picking his bracket "based on likeability and entertainment value of the team's mascot." Now, I'm all for Tyler H. and his team, but what excactly is a Tar Heel? You know this bothers me immensely b/c I had to grow up explaining "What is a Don?"
Oh, yes, defending the Don and the EVEN more obscure Donette is probably worse than defending the Mule. Sounds like some sort of mafia deal to me.
Not so sure about the tar heel...
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