March Madness

I like sports and athletics. Some sports, more than others. That Spouse o' Mine does not enjoy my sitting in on an afternoon of football viewing with him - too many questions, he says. And too many sounds effects (mine) after a tough tackle. And I can't sit through endless channel changes during commercials. Come to think of it, I can't sit through endless strings of commercials, either.

I never enjoyed baseball until our baby boy started playing. He started "late in the game" by most pee wee league standards - I think he was in late grade school, 5th or 6th, before we let him play. By then, most mothers in the bleachers knew ALL the rules and ALL the competitive moves and ALL the cheering words that one uses while watching baseball. I knew nothing, and so my time (inbetween moments when my kid was up to bat) was spent musing things like why did some of the boys wear solid red socks and some of them wear red stripes? How did they come up with the name short stop? How often does the pitcher get beaned by a hit? (My guess is...once? After that, he hones his reflexes and reaction time tremendously.) Anyway, I grew to enjoy those baseball evenings, even though my head was never "in the game".

Now, speed sports: I love them! Downhill skiing, horse races, track & cross country: there is NOTHING finer than spending an afternoon watching the competition. Heck, I can even do a whole day of speed sports and come out a happy camper in the end. Next weekend we are playing host to collegiate cycling here at K-State, and once again we are housing some of the out-of-state cyclists who are competing over the weekend. It's a fun weekend spent with fun athletes.

And here we are in March Madness. I enjoy basketball. I don't usually sit through an entire game, but I like it. I rarely follow the NCAA tournaments, but this spring, I have downloaded the tourney bracket. I am going to put it on our refrigerator. I am going to follow March Madness and I am going to enjoy it. So there.