I wouldn’t want to say it too loudly, but it certainly looks like spring has finally arrived. The snow is gone. The daffodils and croci are blooming and I even saw my first robin today.
After such a long, cold winter, you’d think that we’d have nothing to chat about but how sweet the air is and how good the sun feels on our faces. Nope.In our family, these last few weeks of March are focused on one thing – the NCAA Men’s Basketball play-offs.
Last Tuesday, when I returned from a week’s visit with my parents and a quick peck on Dave’s cheek, I needed to know how the brackets were looking. Dave had his tear-out chart from the newspaper laid out on the coffee table in the family room with his choices neatly printed in pencil on each line. He updates the information as the days progress and every morning as he eats his cereal he checks the latest scores on his iPad and makes corrections where necessary for the games that ended after we went to bed.
Communications with our children are focuses on our teams and how they are doing. Jan and Maggie’s team, the VCU Rams were eliminated in the first round by Ohio State. It was a close game but Shaka Smart and his guys have headed home. Our home team, the UVA Cavaliers or “Wahoos” as they are known, lost yesterday to Michigan State. It was sad to see them lose as well. Tony Bennett is a great coach and his team has done very well this year but the victory went to Tom Izzo and the Trojans will move ahead. I like Tom Izzo, so I wasn’t crushed. So, to date, Andy’s team, the Duke Blue Devils are the only ones left in the dance. I know there are lots of Duke haters out there, but we just “just shake it off”. Considering there are only eleven members on the team this year, eight of them scholarship players, they are amazing.
And so it will go for the next two weeks, unless of course we end up with a final four teams that none of us are remotely interested in. When it ends, we will pack away our swag for the next seven months until it all begins again.