It Really IS A Madness!

I grew up knowing about March Madness. In high school and college I made my brackets and watched to see how well I did. In college, I watched some games and cheered desperately for KY. But my whole experience of March Madness so far in my life has been through the eyes of a single girl. Until this year... Now I'm married to a basketball fanatic, and I'm learning to discover that in March there really is a Madness that takes over the vast majority of the male population of America.

I guess I was just outside its realm of influence before. But now it's like I'm seeing March Madness with fresh eyes. College basketball is everywhere you turn, in every thought, every breath. While we were in San Antonio, we had complete strangers strike up long basketball conversations with us just because of Justin's Kentucky t-shirt. These guys knew all about Kentucky's stats, their history, their prospects for this year's tournaments... And they weren't even Kentucky fans!

Then I got home on my lunch break yesterday, and I couldn't even watch "As the World Turns" because they've replaced it with basketball! Since when is daytime TV supposed to be sports?! And not only was Justin watching the games on TV and flipping back and forth between several games, but he also had another game streaming live on his computer!! Now this really cracks me up - the website where he can watch all the live games has something called a "Boss Button," where if you're watching the game at work, and your boss suddenly comes in, just click the "Boss Button" and an Excel Spreadsheet will pop up and look like you've been working.

A friend of ours has even subscribed to the March Madness Network on TV, so he can simultaneously watch 3 games at once. Needless to say, Justin will spending a lot of time at his house for the next couple of weeks!!

Now please don't hear me complaining or saying that any of this is bad. It's not. In fact, it's great! (I'm slightly relieved to learn that it's not only MY husband who has this Madness!) I'm just commenting about how overwhelmed I am that all this exists! Before this year, I thought March Madness was only a cute name they came up with to call the tournament season. Now I realize they were being perfectly serious! These guys, and some women too, have a fever... And the only prescription is more basketball!!

So I say, if there's something that so many people are getting so desperately passionate about, including my precious husband, I better get in on it too! So today I'm wearing my Kentucky shirt, Kentucky socks, and I'm even wearing my blue underwear! (Sorry if that's TMI! I'm afraid the poor Wildcats need all the help they can get in this year's tournament!) Go get 'em, Wildcats! And bring on the Madness!!!!