BY KYLE LOVERN
March Madness is once again upon us. For those who don’t follow college basketball or may live off the grid in a cave, the term describes the crazy excitement many hoops fans feel for the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament.
Over the years that feeling has spilled over to women’s and high school tournaments. It’s a chance for small towns to cheer for their local high school at state tourneys in their respective states across this great land.
Many fans in this area love their Kentucky Wildcats, while some of us on the other side of the Tug River cheer for the West Virginia Mountaineers. Still, others root for schools like Duke or another university with a storied basketball program.
When I first got together with my wife Vicki she was not a fan of “the most wonderful time of the year” for hoops fans. But I convinced her to fill out a tournament bracket that first year. That is when I guess I created my “March Madness Monster.”
After that first year Vicki became somewhat obsessed with filling out her bracket. At first it was to beat me. But then, when we had a friendly office pool, things got serious.
She started making her notes and researching teams. It was nothing to see her watching ESPN or another sports channel to see what some “experts” said about certain teams.
Thus began Vicki’s reign as queen of March Madness. She defeated not only me but the male-dominated press and many others in the office year after year. My “March Madness Monster” defeated us all for nearly 10 consecutive years. It wasn’t about the small amount of money the winner received. It was about the pride of picking the correct winners and defeating the mostly male-dominated pool of players.
Vicki even took vacation time to stay home to watch the first-round games played during the daytime.
It has made it fun for us when this time of year rolls around. We no longer work at a place where we can join an office pool. But we play online and try our hand at picking the winning teams in those brackets.
Who will pull off the upset this year? What little school will become the “Cinderella” team of this year’s dance?
One thing is for sure, my sweet lovely wife still continues to beat me in the yearly March Madness bracket.
We all love to see the buzzer beater for a last-second win from an unsung player or to see our favorite team dominate a game and advance. It’s fun for fans to cheer for their favorite teams in the event.
There is something called “bracketology,” where a guy named Joe Lunardi starts early in the season and predicts the teams that will make the “big dance” and the postseason tourney.
Usually Kentucky is in the tournament and most of the time WVU makes it. But there are years that regional teams like Marshall or Morehead punch their tickets to the dance.
So it’s so much fun for fans to follow their teams and watch the games. It’s fun to pull for the underdog, some small college most of us have never heard of that pulls off a big upset and knocks out a much bigger school.
Locally it creates excitement when our high school teams make it to the state tournament for their own version of March Madness.
While the action on the hardwood is the soul of March Madness, the response of die-hard fans following their teams in person or by television is great to view.
Big congrats to the Martin County Cardinals for making it to Kentucky’s Sweet 16. Also congratulations to the Tug Valley Panthers for making it to the state tournament in West Virginia. It’s exciting for local teams to participate in district, sectional and regional postseason play. It’s even electric for middle schools to win a county tournament or buddy league teams to win their conference.
Basketball is a great game that our area has always seemed to embrace. It’s still a source of pride for fans to talk about the Inez Indians winning the state championships in 1941 and 1954 and the Kermit Blue Devils, who were state champs in the Mountain State in 1964 and 1975. People love talking about their teams from bygone days, especially when the school no longer exists due to consolidation.
It brings back a feeling of happiness and great memories of the past.
Many of those same fans feel the same about their favorite college teams and love recalling some of those great teams.
March Madness can bring some new heroes for fans to talk about in the future. For now, buckle up and enjoy the excitement these games bring.
(Kyle Lovern is a longtime journalist in the Tug Valley. He is now a retired freelance writer and columnist for the Mountain Citizen.)