Holding It All Together - March Madness - by Amy McCollom

I didn't know when I picked March 12th as a wedding date that it would forever be in competition with a yearly event so much bigger than I could ever imagine. March Madness. Before I met John, I thought March Madness was a week of sales and shopping for Easter dresses. Then he introduced me to basketball.

Not being much of an athlete, I knew little about the game. When I was in high school, I remember having to play basketball in P.E., and basically ran from one end of the gym to the other, chasing the ball and the person who had it. I never got to touch the ball, so the game appeared to me to be a lot like tag. Only you didn't just tag the girl who had the ball, you had to take it away from her. Then you became it. Then everybody would chase you down to get the ball. I did a lot of running, and was never it.

My siblings didn't play the game, and my parents were never athletes, so I didn't really have anyone who could explain the rules. I was just expected to know how to play the game during P.E. So how in the world did I end up married to a sports nut? I'll never know.

John loves college basketball. I remember early in our marriage sitting beside him as he rooted for his favorite teams, the Illini being a really big one. He would get so excited, and almost turn back into a boy again. It was cute.

And although I liked watching the games with John because he made them fun, and would explain what was going on to me without making me feel like a big dummy, there is just something about basketball games on TV that is annoying Maybe it's the noise that bothers me. The crowds chanting, the horns blowing, and every two minutes somebody blows a whistle. Maybe I just have ADD. I just think I would enjoy watching a basketball game a lot more if I could put the TV on mute.

And so now we are well into this year's March Madness. Not only is it a big whooping deal for college basketball, but also high schools. Both boys and girls teams play for championships. There are conference tournaments, NCAA, and the NIT which the Illini went to this year. There are brackets, with four regions, each with 16 teams. Each team is ranked by "seed" and they play each other until the region winners play in the Final Four. Filling out your brackets is called "bracketology." Confused like me? John said, "That's why they call it March Madness, Honey."

I've been told that this year there have been more upsets than in previous years. I've read a lot of comments on Face Book where people are throwing in their brackets, it seems to be very difficult to predict who is going to win. John said that's what makes it fun and frustrating. If anything can be fun AND frustrating, I'd have to say that basketball would be it.

Our pastor made mention on Sunday about the under-dog team from Northern Iowa that beat Kansas. He loves modern day David and Goliath stories. And who doesn’t? It gives us little guys hope. It‘s been reported that someone told the Northern Iowa team "You don't have to be the best team, you just have to be the better team for the next 40 minutes." (or something to that effect) Now if we all could do just that, think of what we could accomplish in life. I guess what I’m saying is in this life of brackets and tournaments, under dogs and top seeded teams, raising kids and working jobs, and just holding it all together; look at each challenge as a game to win. Play your hardest, one game at a time, and you’ll have nothing to hang your head about.