In Memoriam: March Madness

by Peter Bean on Apr 2, 2007 11:50 PM CDT in Basketball Comment 13 comments

When I was growing up with my brother here in Austin, there were two things we did more than anything else: play whiffle ball and play driveway hoops. I'll never forget the Christmas when I was twelve years old and my Mom and Dad made my brother and I unwrap one present after all the others. Usually, when there was a final present that was withheld for unwrapping last, it was something reasonably large in size. A big box with a Nintendo or some other bulky item.

On this particular year, though, it was a small white envelope, and we honestly had no idea what to expect. When we opened it, it simply had a magazine clipping of a basketball goal in it, with the words, "On the way." We already had one of those rickety old things mounted up on a wall above the carport, but this was a picture of a really nice goal.

I was already a big hoops fan, and a recreational player, but my love for the game rocketed into the stratosphere after we got that ten-foot goal that we planted in the ground. Every March, as the perfect spring Austin weather would begin, my brother and I would simulate the NCAA tournament. We'd literally play all 63 games of the tournament, pretending to be the various players on all the different teams in the Madness.

We'd watch all the games leading up to the tournament, learn all the teams and players, and generally live and breathe the tournament for a month straight, year after year after year, right out on our driveway. When you're a kid, you've got time for that, and my brother and I were consistently winning or near the top of our father's office bracket pool. How could we not be? We learned everything about every team, to make sure we could properly simulate all the games. (These days? It's hard to find enough time for that kind of obsession, and my brackets the last few years definitely prove it. Notre Dame in the Elite Eight? Really, Peter?)

I'm always a little bit sad when the NCAA Tournament ends each season, and I always know why. It started with those month-long simulations of the tournament playing driveway basketball with my brother. (Mike, if you're reading: I'm still disappointed that Sienna was never as good in real life as they were on our driveway...)

--PB--

0 recs | Comment 13 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Ah yes...

How did we find the names of the players in the 16 vs. 1 matchups prior to the days of the internet?

I was thinking about those month long marathons the other day. Great times indeed and the parents must have loved it...totally preoccupied and out of trouble for 4 weeks straight.

by Blitzburgh on Apr 2, 2007 11:59 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

bball hoop in the 512?

How did you manage that? I was under the impression that the stupid limestone prevented any hoops from being put in? Maybe that was just my neighborhood. Ah, to live in Indiana again. OK, not really.

by whoopspat on Apr 3, 2007 12:09 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I don't know

I'm a huge fan of the sport of basketball.. played it in high school and I play pickup games at the gym about 4-5 times per week. but honestly I kinda think march madness is overrated. I LOVE it when Texas is alive, but after Texas loses I barely watch a single game. From a neutral observer's standpoint, I'd rather watch the NBA where the level of play is so much higher. I'm very much a college guy, don't get me wrong, but if it's not my team then the strong points of the college game have much less impact. Football is another story however. Love the 'boys, but the NFL doesn't compare to college as entertainment.

by Matt on Apr 3, 2007 3:54 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

We will have to agree to disagree

because I think March Madness is the best thing going in sports and the NBA is a long drawn out process that no one even starts to try until game 3 or 4. The NBA is more about the individual and not about how teams can come together.

by Wells on Apr 3, 2007 7:14 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

march

The tournament is only real exciting in the first two rounds. Wall-to-wall games, flipping between close ones, etc. After that, it becomes a let down.

Of course, the NBA and its playoff system that lasts at least 17 months is incredibly boring until it reaches a climactic, deciding game.

So y'all are both wrong. Now go to the gym and pump each other.

by Jason Mayer on Apr 3, 2007 10:45 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

BTW

I finished fifth in the BON Official Bracket on the Rivals Bracket Battles! I think that's the best I've ever done on a pool that contained more than 10 people. Congrats to eateneye, who I think led from wire-to-wire this year.

Officially a Limey Longhorn

by patienthornsfan on Apr 3, 2007 6:03 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Still playing kids younger than him...

Just for the record PB still plays one-on-one during the Madness. Last weekend, after a tad bit of Gin, he decided to go challenge the 18 year-old kid who is always practicing across the street from my house.

It looked like PB was getting beat, but he started pushing the kid around at the end and won 15-13 or something after being down early. He had on boots and jeans and introduced himself as Uncle Peter. Amusing.

I think it was the Georgetown-OSU game simulation.

by jimmer on Apr 3, 2007 7:53 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Sadly

This is a true story.

--PB--

by Peter Bean on Apr 3, 2007 7:57 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

It's a valuable life lesson for that young man

Age and cynical brutality generally win out over youthful vigor and optimism. Or so I find, as an ill-tempered old fart.

by DC Trojan on Apr 3, 2007 1:00 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

That, and...

...it helps when you've got six inches on the kid.

--PB--

by Peter Bean on Apr 3, 2007 1:02 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

maybe, maybe not

You could make the argument that lower center of gravity = more leverage, but I'm no expert on the value of that in basketball. In fact, I haven't played a pickup game of basketball since my college buddies banned me during the third week of September freshman year, on the grounds that 1) I sucked at offense, and 2) I played defense like it was rugby. Apparently you aren't supposed to try and tip people over. Who knew?

by DC Trojan on Apr 3, 2007 4:18 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs