Once upon a time you wouldn’t catch me dead watching any sort of sporting event, live or televised. (Well, except maybe for figure skating.) Give me the name of a professional team and I couldn’t tell you what sport they played, much less the stats of their star player.
This continued through college. Like many of my liberal arts classmates, I resented the hell out of the sports program because it seemed like they got a lot more money and attention than the rest of the programs. The turning point was my senior year when the men’s basketball team made it to the NCAA finals. All of a sudden there were media teams from all over the country descending on our little campus to learn more about the Cinderella team, and it was difficult not to get caught up in the excitement. Our studies slacked off. We took team spirit pictures with the Bing statue. The campus dive bars overflowed more than usual on game nights. It’s amazing the university president didn’t cancel classes the day after being eliminated from the tournament.
I still can’t tell you the players’ stats or how to determine a penalty, but I have fun watching them play. It’s very important to get tickets to see their annual “grudge match” against UP. Sometimes it seems like there are more GU than UP alumni in attendance.
I’ll be cheering the team on at the game tonight — GO ZAGS!