In college athletics I root for Michigan State University. I'm a graduate and I live in the area. I love football, and make it to a couple of games a year. I really like basketball, have attended some games, and I love basketball come March and the NCAA basketball tournament. Setting up brackets with guesses and wishes as to who will win each game has become part of the spring schedule.
In our fantasy brackets, we had Michigan State winning the tournament. In our realistic brackets, we couldn't figure out how they were going to get past Louisville, the #1 seed. Somehow, the Spartans figured out how to get past Louisville, and ended up in the Final Four. Wow! But how would they get past UConn, another #1 seed? We didn't know how, but the team and coaches figured out a way. MSU was going to the championship game.
Now, if this was a movie, the Spartans would have squeaked out one last win. But this wasn't a movie, and as our hopes surged we forgot that the North Carolina team they played had their own story they were playing out: they had lost last year and had come back to win it all. North Carolina was at the top of their game. Our boys weren't. We lost.
But there isn't bitterness in this defeat. Nope. No riots in the streets of East Lansing. (Okay, a few couch burnings and a small party in Cedar Village, but hey . . . ) No recriminations. The Spartans were a team. They didn't have the NBA hopefuls of the other teams. They were a team, with a scrappy coach, who thought they could. They far exceeded our expectations, and gave us a wonderful ride.
And so . . . altogether now:
Go Green!!!
2 comments:
Sniff, sniff... Great post, Shirl. I'm sad to see this season go but I really enjoyed getting to know the Spartan players a little better and will be waiting patiently for next season to come.
I think there's a movie script in there somewhere. I'm glad they gave it a good go for you Shirl.
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