The Madness

If you could marry one sport, which would it be?

Basketball, competitive eating, golf, skiing, football, soccer, baseball, skateboarding. tennis, poker, billiards, bowling, badmitton, croquet, snowboarding, rollerblading, or hacky-sack?  

My initial reaction to this question would be by responding with baseball. Baseball is my love and from April to October, baseball is my life.

With that said, I have a confession to make. I may be cheating on baseball due to my current infatuation with College Basketball. Not only do I love following  my teams (Utah State, Florida, and Jimmer Fredette), but I love watching almost any college basketball game. This love makes the month of March especially wonderful. For starters, March has always been one of my favorite months since it is the month of my birth and because it marks the coming of spring. But over the past 10 years or so I have come to love it even more because of March Madness and the NCAA tournament. And about a week and a half ago I got my first taste of the bliss that is March Madness.

My Utah State Aggies played the Saint Mary's Gaels at Moraga, which happens to be about an hour and a half away from where I am living. I went with my brother and his son and we arrived about 30 minutes before tip-off. When we got there I noticed four things: 1- the gym was tiny, I felt like I was in a high-school or church gym (I think it seats around 3,500); 2 - there were almost no open seats in the general admission section; 3 - there were approximately 30 other Utah State fans sitting together on the other side of the court; and 4 - St. Mary's had the least attractive cheer leaders I had ever seen. Period.

We ended up finding some seats on the first row of general admission, right behind the students. This was potentially the worst place we could sit in the off-chance that the Gaels would beat the Aggies, and for awhile when the Aggies were down by about 10, we got a lot of yells, screams, and celebrations right in our faces. During those few minutes, it got pretty loud in that place and I was impressed with the amount of noise the crowd made. And that means something since I came from Utah State where the Spectrum is known to have one of the best, loudest, and most intimidating fans in the Nation.

Luckily my Aggies came back strong in the second half and beat the Gaels real good on their own court. It looked for a minute like the Gaels were going to mount a comeback with a few minutes left on the clock, but this amazing dunk by Brady Jardine shut up their offense and their crowd...it was so freaking amazing!

In the end the Aggies won by double digits, got a solid win against a solid opponent, and put themselves in a good position for the NCAA Tournament. And I got to gloat and bask in sweet, sweet victory as defeated Gael fans walked past, with heads low, not daring to look me in the eye. It was honestly the best game I have ever been to. I can't even begin to describe the rush that being in hostile territory and gaining a victory like that can give you, but just know that it was awesome.

Now I've just got to hope the Aggies don't make any stupid mistakes so that I get to watch them and 64 other great college basketball teams fight for the title....oh how I love March Madness!