March Madness Connectedness

I’m sad. Just one week from today (even less depending on when you are actually reading this) my sports universe will go into hibernation until the fall when the pigskins start to fly again. I’ve never been much of a baseball fan, nor a professional basketball fan, which means that April to August my sports world consists only of my two son’s soccer games on the weekends. The drive & intensity of March Madness suddenly halts and I’m left with a noticeable void in my life.

But I’ll live it up while I can and drink in all that is college basketball for at least a few more games.

There is something about this time of year that draws people together. My family & I fill out our brackets annually, like many other people do, and encourage friends & family alike to ‘make their picks’ and see how they rank as the Tournament progresses. Never mind that dumb luck has much, if not most, to do with how people do. Case in point: in all my previous years serving as a student minister we would invariably see a seventh grade girl win our student ministries bracket challenge - her picks almost always coming like a draw out of a hat, or, even more randomly, from whose team colors she liked better, or who had the cutest mascot (Saturday Night Live had a great skit last weekend with Payton Manning illustrating this all-too-common result).

But this randomness is what makes the Madness so fun, as well! We laugh together, cry together (like when my poor Jayhawks exit too early from year to year - sometimes way too early), and enjoy sharing an experience together - at least for a few weeks.

So, I’ll watch the games, but even more, appreciate the connectedness that one more week of basketball affords, while I prepare for the slumber of the hibernation once again.