"Magic March and the Madness" - Time Out #189

Wow!

It REALLY is March Madness, isn't it?

Of course, I am referring to the recently completed NCAA Men's 2019 Basketball Tournament, that crowned the University of Virginia Claviers champions for their first time, and our Big 12 Conference Texas Tech Red Raiders, a very close (overtime loss) runner-up.

It certainly didn't take your humble scribe long to get excited over the entire 3-week event, beginning in mid-March, after the conference championship tournaments and Selection Sunday were over. On that memorable Sunday

each year, the entire field is selected by a process that is almost becoming as complicated as sending an astronaut to outer space. It is a day full of gushing highs for the fortunate teams selected for the "dance", and bitter disappointments for those left behind by non-selection.

As I have written several times over the past few years, basketball viewing is my absolute favorite sport, because I truly believe the game brings the best any athlete has to offer to a lightning quick indoor arena. Because of my love for the game, I officiated high school games in 4 states for 30 years.

My early attraction for basketball began by carefully observing the "Iron Duke", legendary Coach Henry P. Iba, aka "Mr. Iba", as he was known by thousands of the great hoop game followers. Watching the Aggies/Cowboys play under his wonderful coaching in historic Gallagher Hall as I grew up and older, 1953-70, I developed a great respect and knowledge of this incredible game. My education and career path took me away from Our Town throughout the 1970's, but I grabbed my bride and young children, and returned to my roots in 1981 when we moved back. A big part of the joy in returning to our little secret here in north central Oklahoma was, of course, Oklahoma State University athletics, and my love of the maple floor indoor basketball game.

History shows, and I helped live it, throughout the 1980's, our beloved local roundballers did not enjoy much winning success, but that all changed when our new sheriff, former Buckland, KS, sharpshooter Eddie Sutton, returned to his alma mater as OSU's head coach in 1990. And with that move, the Cowboys rocketed back to the prominent national scene we had enjoyed under Mr. Iba several decades earlier. In short, our basketball magic was reborn.

So, Bryant "Big Country" Reeves, Coach Sutton's athletic "project" from tiny Gans in southeastern Oklahoma, led the way in 1995 to our first Final 4 hoops appearance since 1951. That entire journey was absolutely incredible for me to experience. I had helped convert my bride, Debbie, to a spectator-love of the game, too, so it was a given when our family made the trek to Emerald City of Seattle, WA. that year to join the crowd at the famous Kingdome for the action. Seattle is such a interesting city to visit, we did lots of area activities, in addition to attending the festivities surrounding all the basketball fanfare. Yes, it was somewhat deflating when UCLA defeated us, but when we allowed our emotions to settle down, just being in that special setting was totally magical.

Well, in 2004, the genie came out of the bottle again. This specific season my bride and I followed the Sutton-led band-of-brothers to East Rutherford, NJ, on the edge of New York City, and watched OSU in person win our Sweet 16 and Elite 8 playoff games. With those successes, we punched our ticket for another Final 4 appearance, that season in the San Antonio, TX, Alamodome. I don't remember our excitement being any less for this gathering than our Seattle experience. And, we were able to share this special weekend with close family, as Ms. Debbie's sister, Rachelle, and her spouse, Michael, joined us in the stands; both of them are also big-time college basketball fans. True, Georgia Tech slipped by us, so we didn't make it to the title game, but in our minds, our Cowboys were still our champions.

Will the always faithful OSU clan, including my bride and me, ever be able to experience that Final 4 basketball magic again? My response to most difficult questions like that is simply, "My crystal ball is in the shop". but, in my effort at full disclosure, my fingers are always crossed!