March Madness Goes International

A friend of mine from Vegas asked me if I could ever handle being out of the States in March. You see, I’m a college hoops junkie.  This time of year I am one of those trying to watch every game, have more than a couple bracket sheets going, talk tourney to anyone with an interest.  I’m an ACC baby. Because of Duke University I exist, since my mother picked up my father in the student union a few decades ago. Where I live now it’s all about Gonzaga. The Bullldogs play Western Kentucky this afternoon for the chance at the Sweet Sixteen and my employer is paying me to host a b’ball party at the resort where I work.  We’ll be switching between that game and the women’s team in Seattle playing Xavier. I’ll use an overused exclamation here….”SWEET!”

What I’ve noticed this snowy winter as I’ve watched game after game (If you looked at the latest photos I added to my profile you’ll understand why. Traveling off the mountain could be hazardous to the body the past three months) is the international diversity on so many college teams. Ohio State has a Nigerian player who didn’t start playing till he was a teenager.St Maries, a WCC rival of Gonzaga, is practically all Australian, and I’m noticing many more Spanish surnames on the backs of jerseys these days.

I am reminded every four years that basketball is an international sport come Olympic time, but there’s something  magical in seeing the global mix of roundball athletes this time of year. Cameras flow into the crowd to see the proud parents of a player who traveled ungodly distances to watch their son or daughter play on our national stage (or court, as it were). What’s even more important; their child gets a college degree in the process.

 So I’m thinking should I leave home some March in the not too distant future, I’ll be able to catch some NCAA games in a sports pub somewhere. A comforting thought for this tomboy.

  For now the couch in the mountain house is nice and warm. I’ll catch ya’ll later; the second half of UCLA and Villanova just started….