nyny

it's madness, baby!

Even though I won't be able too watch as much of it as I'd like, I'm super pumped for March Madness to begin tomorrow. Besides Christmas, it's the best time of the year.

For as long as I can remember, when someone would ask me who I thought was going to win I'd always respond with Illinois, without any hesitation. Usually the question-asker would just roll their eyes, but I was always genuinely hopeful. But for last couple of years everything changed. We were actually good. For a precious little while I could give my traditional answer without seeming crazy. Even though we didn't take it all, we certainly made a damn good run of things, with a second place finish that went down to the wire two years ago and a respectable performance last year. Plus, we put on a thrilling show by beating Arizona in what is arguably one of the best (and still talked about) comebacks of all time. Ah man, the glory days.

But this year we're ranked 12th. And suprisingly, I'm ok with that. I realized that now, when someone asks me who I think will win, I don't say Illinois. It was a little painful, but there's actually a little line on my bracket this year where I do not write them in as advancing. I don't think I'm losing faith in my team...I'm just growing up. There's still a little seed of hopefulness though. If you can't be one of the top (or middle) contenders, a 12th seed isn't the worst place to be. After all, there's always a 12-5 upset. And I'll of course still be cheering as hard as ever. I've got my Illinois sweatshirt washed and my orange and blue hair ribbon is all ready to go.

Somebody has to be the Cinderella. I just hope we can do it without The Chief. May he rest in peace.

posted by becka @ 9:58 PM