Beyond the South End

March Madness

Call me Mad during the month of March during March Madness. Saturday I sat in front of the TV all day watching the Men’s NCAA Tournament. Yesterday, the Women’s NCAA Tournament started and I watched games from 11 am to 9 pm. Today (Sunday) after we went to get groceries, I did some cooking for the week and ended up just in time for a snack and more game watching at 12:30. So far today I’ve watched Delaware beat West Virginia and I’m now watching the DePaul/Oklahoma game. Kentucky has beat Navy today too. I think that qualifies me as a nut, right?

You’ll be lucky if you see this blog tomorrow because I’m trying to write during time outs, half time breaks and between game breaks.

I’m not as bad as I used to be though. I don’t make out my brackets anymore like the President just did. Since the inception of the WNBA, I’m in basketball heaven, because I can now watch basketball in the summer too.

One thing though, why does the Men’s Tournament get four channels to watch the games on and the Women’s Tournament only gets one? Oh yes, on my Direct TV setup I can watch other women’s games on something called ESPNu or something like that—IF I want to pay for it! What’s up with that? Title 9 should include equal TV coverage too I think. It’s only fair.

Now they switched games to the Middle Tennessee/Louisville game. I guess that’s because Tennessee is in my area. I miss Pat Summitt, the most honored, winningest coach of the college game, including the Men’s game. Her UT Volunteers team won their game yesterday. I wish them luck this year and send much love Pat’s way.

I got to see Pat in person when the Women’s National Team played here at a local college prior to the Olympics. She was co-coaching with Geno Ariamo, of Connecticut, my favorite team. Connecticut beat Idaho yesterday 105-30 I think. At 12-0 they switched to another game because I guess they figured it was all over in that game, and it was. I also got to see both Geno and Pat during the NCAA Final Four here in Atlanta a few years ago. Pat threw a chair onto the floor because she got so frustrated with the Diana Turasi-led team that year.

Commercial time so now I can continue.

 

 

 

I think all this madness began with me in high school when I played on the Girls’ Rockland High School Tiger team. It was the only sport I was any good at all in. I played guard when we still had a half court game. Later on, when a roving guard was added, I played that position. When the other team fouled me I could never get that darn foul shot though.

Basketball was naturally the most popular sport then, and probably still is. Of course that mainly has to do with the condition of the fields needed to play football, baseball, and softball. You can’t play in mud after all or six feet of snow. The season is short and I think they even tried to make split seasons out of those games, playing in spring and fall. You can’t keep up any continuity that way.

Here in the South its “Friday Night Lights” as far as football is concerned. If we’d tried to play under the lights up home we surely would have frozen to death. It was bad enough in the daytime to sit still long enough to watch a game without freezing your buns.

I don’t know what kind of teams they have at the new high school now. In the 50s we didn’t have soccer at all for either boys or girls. We tried to start a field hockey team with the girls, but it didn’t stick. I tried out for it but wasn’t impressed.

Louisville is now beating Middle Tennessee, 24-8. I wonder when they’ll switch to another game. They’re playing on Louisville’s home court and it looks like they have a good crowd. It’s not quite fair I think to let a team play on their home court during the tournament. I guess they can’t always tell what teams will be playing for sure, though, but I really think they should put them into another area somewhere if it appears they will be playing on their home court. It was fun seeing Connecticut win on their home court yesterday though, I must admit—hee hee.

Rockland had some good teams during the 50s. I think the men and women both went to some form of tournament play at the end of the season. I remember going to all the games at the Community Center (now Recreation Center) and yelling all through the game sitting with my girlfriends up over the floor in the bleachers. We would all be hoarse by the end of the game. Then it would be off to Humptey’s for fries and a coke. Good times, good memories.

Our girls’ basketball road games were a lot of fun too. We’d sing all the way there and back, even if we lost. Our best singers, Shearer Hooper and Barbara Staples always sang “Blue Moon” for us in harmony after we begged them enough. We usually stopped for a snack somewhere on the way home. Our long legs could store away quite a lot of food in those days and after playing so hard in the game, we were always starrrrrrving. Again. Good times, good memories. We lost Shearer back in 2011. We all miss her.

Is it no wonder then that basketball holds a special place in my heart; and I reminisce all the while I’m watching my favorite teams as well as those I don’t get to see too often? March Madness is something I look forward to every year. God help my friends if they suggest we do something else while the games are on. I’m not going anywhere. Sorry.

Gotta go. Half time coming up and I want to see how the rest of the teams are doing so far today. Call me sometime in April, OK?

By the way, I don’t think any women’s team in the tournament is going to get by Baylor and Brittney Griner. They will take the big prize.

Thanks for listening.