Basketball - from the NBA to college

It's almost time!  In two days, we see the first official game of the college basketball season.  I love watching college basketball and have since 2000, but every year between April and October/November, I seem to forget how much.  When I watch that first game in the fall, I am consumed by bliss stronger than I anticipated.  No matter what happened that day, I instantly feel great.

I've written and talked about my history with basketball quite a bit in school applications, job interviews, and elsewhere, but for those of you not familiar with the story . . .

I haven't always had such kind feelings towards basketball.  I remember going to my brother's games when we were younger, but I don't actually remember watching much.  I was probably finding some other form of entertainment like climbing on and under the bleachers or checking out the concessions stand while the game was going on.  I remember getting Gene Keady's autograph but really only finding it interesting/exciting because other people found it interesting/exciting.  And I definitely felt some resentment towards my high school athletics department in general because they kept getting funding even though our teams were not very good while the music department experienced cuts and had some of the best choirs in the region.

But in 1998, my attitude started to soften.  I accidentally started watching the NBA Eastern Conference Finals between the Chicago Bulls and Indiana Pacers.  As often happened, I was doing homework with the TV on, and I was too lazy to change the channel.  I caught myself watching the game, and I became hooked.  Maybe Reggie Miller's three-pointers have some hypnotic quality.  I actively tuned in to the rest of the finals, disappointed when the Pacers lost and thrilled when the Bulls beat the Jazz.

For years after that, I followed the finals closely, picking which team I would support on a series-by-series basis.  Growing up in an area where the closest NBA team were the Toronto Raptors, I didn't have any strong allegiances. Which brings me to college basketball.

While I became a fan of the NBA in '98, I still didn't have much interest in college, high school, or any other form of basketball.  Those other games just didn't seem as exciting.  Then team allegiance sucked me in.  I got into a college that had a decent team.  Even before I finished the first semester of my senior year in high school, I started following the Stanford Cardinal.  Not having cable, I couldn't watch the game, but I definitely knew and celebrated when Stanford beat Duke in the Pete Newell Challenge in December 2000.  And I closely watched and followed every game in the NCAA tournament that season, and every season since then.  (More on the tourney some other time.  It deserves it's own post.)

Having a team to root for made the game that much better.  And the more I watched college basketball, the more I appreciated the strategy, skill, team dynamics, leadership, etc.  It quickly overtook my love of the NBA, which to me had more flash but not as much heart and soul.

The best part of college basketball was being able to watch all the home games in person.  Before college, I had never gone to a live game, other than my brother's or my high school's.  There's nothing like watching 10 talented players and 2 legendary coaches battle it out while standing on the floor, center court, with just two rows of rich people in folding chairs in front of you.  In college, every single game matters, and everyone involved cares deeply about what happens and the outcome.

That's why, come Friday night, you know what I'll be doing.