When March Went Mad...

Did you know that March "Madness" officially began 30 years ago?
Until dating Dan, I had no idea. It all began when the Michigan State Spartans faced off in the championship against the Indiana State Sycamores. Magic Johnson vs. Larry Bird. April 2, 1979.
The most-watched championship game (at that time)...
Madness.

I've gotta say that one of the most fun things (for me) in dating Dan has been getting back into sports again. For those of you yet to meet him, let me give you a quick intro: he loves sports. LOVES MSU and all things Spartan. (and it's really not an understatement) ...and he likes the Cyclones. And when it comes to random sports trivia, facts about players, mascots of various colleges and in minor & major leagues of sports...he's got a mind like a steel-trap.

Back in the day, I loved watching basketball. In upper elementary, middle & high school, and into college, I watched March Madness like it was going out of style. I remember the Chris Webber foul-up when he called time-out with none left, the Grant Hill to Christian Laettner pass resulting in his turn-around jumper (mainly because I was at the Lilly's and said, "That sucks." Debbie Lilly promptly reminded me that we don't use that kind of language.) ...watching ISU men play with my loyal Cylcones Jina & Allisha (and eating some make-shift puppy-chow with granulated sugar instead of powdered), watching the ISU women beat UConn to advance to the Elite 8 while spring-breakin' it at Lake Panorama, and even making an effort to watch ESPN in Costa Rica in 2000 when our men made their storied journey to the Sweet Sixteen. (which was ended, interestingly enough, by MSU. But whatev, no hard feelings now, right?)

And then I stopped. Cold-turkey. I'm not sure why; probably because I didn't have friends that valued watching sports. Plus, I probably thought Jesus didn't want us wasting our lives on sports. (Which is partly true; I mean, "It is seek first the kingdom of God" not "the kingdom of sports.") However, when you know that sports isn't life, but understand that sports can make life enjoyable & interesting (oh yeah, and that life is about God & oriented around Him first) - I think it's all right to partake in some Madness, now & again.

And, you know what? I like it! and I really like following the games with Dan. So, I will cheer my little heart out tonight for the Cyclone women as they take on Stanford & I'll be cheering like crazy on Saturday night for the Spartans (especially Goran & Lucious!).

I am SpartaClone. GO STATE!