Going Mad

When I was a kid and young college student I looked forward to March. March meant warmer weather. March meant flowers. March meant one month to my birthday! But, ever since I met my husband, March means Madness.

My father was not your typical sports loving man. Growing up I watched an occasional Royals baseball game or Chiefs football game. The Kansas City Kings basketball team left the area when I was very young. Thanksgiving meant turkey, not football. Weekends were for classic movies and westerns, not Wide World of Sports. Then, I met my husband and my world was turned upside down.

To say my husband enjoys sports is an understatement. The man eats, breaths and sleeps sports. If there isn't a sporting event to watch, there is ESPN or Sports Center. The first New Year's Day we spent together was at his parent's house. The worst thing I ever had to watch on New Year's Day prior to this fateful day was a parade or two. When college football came on the television at 10:00 a.m. I thought, ok, I can handle watching a football game. Little did I know. As one football game ended, the station was changed to another game and then another and then another. Football remained on the television until 10:00 at night. This was back when all the games were played on New Year's Day instead of being spread out like they are now. If that wasn't bad enough, my then boyfriend, left me alone to go upstairs to play video games. (Another of my least favorite pastimes.) That night when we left I told him I was NEVER going to his home for New Year's Day again, and I never have.

Today starts the beginning of March Madness. In case you are fortunate enough to NOT know what this means, it is when college basketball is played non-stop for 4 weeks. This weekend is the worst. Brackets float around offices and pools are entered see who can choose the winning team. Each year I get talked into filling out a bracket to play against my husband. In the end, he wins, but I often win the first round. I have absolutely no idea what I am doing. I go by the name I like or choose an upset. I have two basic rules, I choose MU (for Hubby) and never, ever choose KU. I don't care if they win the whole thing. I don't care if they usually make it to the final four. I will not write down their name. My winning the first round does not do much for Hubby's sports knowledge ego.

It's a beautiful day out today. The sun is shining, flowers are poking through, the house is finally getting healthy again and my birthday is less than three weeks away. And yet, with all this goodness, life is tainted just a little with the impending doom of college basketball madness.

(Did I mention my birthday often falls on Royals opening day? sigh.)