Sunday, March 22, 2009

Hoop it up!

This may not be the right time to say this… but… I am not a big basketball fan.

My apologies to all the hoops fans out there, but I’m just not. I have never played it. I do not like to watch it on T.V. I do not really like to go to basketball games, either. I have been to a few UT basketball games, and enjoyed them marginally (a cute halftime show can make up a lot of ground.) I don’t know the terminology. I don’t understand why many of the basketball players look like scary thugs that I would not want to encounter on a city street.

And there are just so MANY of these games. I find myself asking, “Didn’t those teams already play each other at least FIVE times this season?” I honestly would rather get a bikini wax than watch a basketball game.

In high school, I didn’t much care for getting decked out in my cheerleading uniform and cheering at basketball games either. Wow, nothing quite like cheering in a hot, stinky high school gymnasium. I spent many games looking up at the scoreboard, wondering… “Is it over YET?”

So it’s funny, then, that I should marry an Indiana boy. A boy who grew up in the shadow of all things ‘basketball’. My husband loves college hoops. He loves watching the games, checking the scores, filling out his brackets for the tournament… ah, March Madness.

I try to act interested. He knows it’s an act. I try to be disappointed for Phil when IU or Texas loses. But really the only thing I like about college basketball can be summed up in three little words… “One Shining Moment”.

If you are a hoops fan, or if your spouse is a bona fide basketball junkie, like mine is… you know exactly what that is. And it is my FAVORITE part of the tournament. And it’s honestly not just because it means that the tournament has (finally) come to an end. I’m just a sentimental goofball.

That song makes me cry every damn year. I love to watch the short video montage of the tournament highlights, the victories, the spectacular shots, and the cutting down of the nets, all set to one unbelievably cheesy song. This, I know, is a little strange coming from someone who is not a big basketball fan.

Maybe it’s the late hour of the victory, and the fact that I’m usually tired. Maybe it’s just those young kids having an experience that they’ll remember for the rest of their lives. But I love it, for whatever reason, and I wait for it, every year, on the night of the NCAA championship game. Regardless of who wins and who loses, I will watch the video, listen to the song, and get teary-eyed. And for one shining moment, I will be a fan. ;)

7 comments:

Kris with a K said...

Ok, Cyclops, I gotta tell you my husband's fan=stinking=tastic idea for a T shirt, now knowing that Phil is from Indiana.

Joe had the idea that dads of new freshman should get a shirt that says "Hoosier Daddy."

Get it? Love it.

Anonymous said...

I love the little video monatage and cry every year. I only like March Madness because I am in a pool and one year I won $300. Jesse does all the up keep and watches all the games. I just keep asking if I have won yet???

I of course am supposed to be a HUGE Nuggets fan, but really I am not.

Jen

Anonymous said...

You don't like basketball?! What are you, some kind of WOOZLE?! ;-) Hope you guys are doing ok down there after the "favorites" have been eliminated... :'-(

Anonymous said...

um, I seem to remember running horses, doing dribbling drills, and going through stations with you in maybe 7th or 8th grade. I think I even have the pictures to prove it... ;)

Staci said...

Oh hell, Tara... don't even THINK about posting pics ;)

I guess I DID play in the 7th grade, but I sucked horribly, and was so second string (maybe even 3rd string!), I might as well have not even played. I think the only basket I ever scored was for the opposing team.

Marcy said...

You'll like this...Olivia is being recruited by the College of Charleston and after some research, she came to me with this dumbfounded look on her face and said "They don't have football - what school doesn't have football. (you can tell this child was raised in Texas!) All they have is basketball - what is up with that?" It just might make or break her decision!!!

sarah. said...

Basketball is just constant scoring until the bell rings. I don't get it.