I swore I wasn’t going to write about this but it has taken over my household and I’m not sure I have a choice.  My husband even suggested I write about it to which I initially  responded with a resounding NO!  But as I kept observing things today, it was the only thing speaking to me, so I’m giving in.  So, hello March Madness.

The day began with the Kentucky – Tennessee game, the SEC championship game.  For those of us who went to UK, nothing sucks like a big orange and there’s a special animosity between these two schools.  It was a great game and the good guys won, so it’s very relaxed in our house at the moment. Apparently, there are no basketball games too small today as my boys just keep surfing the TV for another one to watch.  Between that and watching the commentators whose shows are named things like “Bubble Watch” and “Bracket Breakdown”, it’s all that exists right now.  In my husband’s defense, he grew up on Kentucky basketball, which is its own form of religion.  I mean, we once waited to start a Sunday evening church service because everyone wanted to finish the Kentucky game first.  We sat in the pews watching on a tiny TV and then started.  It was a small church, but you get the idea.  Almost nothing is bigger than Kentucky basketball.

While others in our apartment complex are displaying Easter decorations on their doors, ours has a Kentucky welcome on it with a Kentucky door mat which will stay until they are out of the tournament.  We all own multiple Kentucky shirts, stock Ale-8 drinks for watching games (made in Winchester, KY) and a 1978 NCAA championship commemorative drinking glass that we refer to as the Chris Gettlefinger glass that we set out to invoke the spirit of Chris whenever it’s a really big game.  I’m serious.  Basketball is serious business.

We are superstitious enough to believe that having outsiders come over to watch the game with us is bad mojo since Kentucky lost the couple of times we tried it, so only immediate family is allowed to get together.  In years where Doug is on spring break, he plans to go to a local sports bar and spend hours on the first couple of days watching multiple games at once to check his bracket.  Filling out the bracket is a big deal and we take who wins seriously with one of us having to take the other out to do whatever they want at the end.

This year is especially complicated because Nebraska may have played well enough to be on the “bubble”.  We’re waiting for a few hours to see if they will going to the tournament and if not, to see if they’re in the NIT.  My husband is having to create pep bands to go to wherever the team might go and then to travel to wherever they might go should they win the first game.  It’s quite the niche job, as the director has to put together certain size bands, know how to travel with them, make sure they’re settled in their hotels, keep them on schedule, proctor tests for students missing classes, deal with bus drivers, security and venue staff, work with marketing, deal with scripting of the game, oh, and conduct the music, knowing the game well enough to know what to play to get fans excited or to keep them excited.  Something a Kentucky boy would know very well.  He’s lucky in that, as big a pain as the preparation is, he loves his job and being in the middle of the big dance is exciting for him.  He has the opportunity to mix his two great loves, music and basketball, so what more could you ask?

So, as much as I was fighting writing about this, it is my life right now.  Our daily schedule is run by it, and our time together is determined by it.  I have to admit I get sucked into it as well, as much as I fight it and I’m secretly looking forward to filling out my bracket so I can win again this year : )