March Madness

<3 I love basketball. I have been blessed to have 4 best friends and a mom who share my passion. This weekend Nashville hosted 6 games from the second and third rounds of the NCAA Men's Division 1 tournament and I got to attend every single one of them.

First a moment of silence to honor my beloved Blue Devils who fell to Lehigh and broke my heart.

Moving right along. It is only appropriate that Young MC's "Bust A Move" is playing on my Pandora station currently because many moves were made over this glorious weekend (Most were on the court, but quite a few were by Hunter on the dance floor). If you enjoy basketball I urge you to treat yourself to this experience in the future. It is magical.

Friday night I went with Bur, Hunter & Bubba and we decided to have at least one person cheering for each team to make it more exciting since all our teams were playing in other regions (or other tournaments, NIT Hunter, NIT). Texas vs. Cincinnati started off the madness and the battle of the bands. Hook 'Em Horns. As you know I have horrible taste in teams and my bracket now resembles a game of MASH, everything is pretty much crossed out. Cincy stole my heart with their colorful socks as seen below.

After the Cincy victory we watched St. Bonaventure hang in until the bitter end against Florida State. Bur and I were Bonnie fans immediately and memorized the team roster after browsing our program. We were feeling the double digits, 44 & 11, as well as Schmidt (coach). The Bonnie crowd was amazing because their school paid for everything if the students bought their ticket to the game. Bubba Girls were prevalent on their cheer squad so he had to love them a little even though he was rooting for Florida State. This game was so much fun because Bur and I made up stats and detailed information about all the players and were cheering for them by name and invented nicknames within 5 minutes of the first half. My boy Conger did not perform like he normally does and only got on the board from free throws until it was too late. But Bur's favorite Andrew was picking up the slack and with the assistance of Cook keeping a win a possibility.

The bands were a great feature of this tournament. I was thoroughly impressed with the tuba players of Ohio and the drummers of Florida State. They made all the timeouts and halftimes extremely entertaining.

We finished out the night by watching South Florida beat Temple and Ohio beat Michigan.

Sunday was round three and I went with my Momma to this set of games. We got to witness Ohio battle South Florida and ended the night with a down to the wire victory for Cincy over Florida State. It was all around great basketball and every single game was close. I couldn't have asked for a better time.

This picture highlights the 2 girls diagonally behind us that were the only downside to the entire weekend. Pretty sure they were 14 and one hundred percent sure I wanted to murder them. These squeaky bearcat fans decided that squealing/screeching after EVERY SINGLE play was a brilliant plan and were oblivious to the entire section moving as far from them as possible. Also, they were complete idiots and cheered multiple times for the wrong team, cheered even when the call went against their team, and knew absolutely nothing about Cincy. Jesus really tested me and tried to make me break my Lent promise of no alcohol with a tragic Duke loss on Friday followed by dumb and loud mice behind me for 5 hours on Sunday. Luckily I was able to hold strong and not give in to my temptation to drink or to stab them. I will count it as a victory.

I had so much fun spending 2 full days watching excellent basketball and hanging out with the people I love most in the world. My gorgeous Momma and my crazy and hilarious boys: RJ, Bubba, Bur & Hunter.

I Triple Dog Dare You

Grade school was the time when we were fearless. Someone triple dog dared you to do something and you just did it, no questions asked. Those were the rules and we followed them for countless dares. Now that we are older, when dared or thinking of taking a risk we weigh all the potential consequences and consider is it really worth it. Too often we settle for our comfort zone and become stagnant. Stop.

My favorite Bible story since childhood (and to this day) is of Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego in the book of Daniel. These 3 men refuse to bow down to King Nebuchadnezzar and stay true to their faith. The King throws them into a fire so hot that the guards throwing them in died. But the reason I love this story is that the King sees not 3, but 4 men among the flames. Jesus was with them and they came out unscathed. This passage has offered me a multitude of inspiration over the years.

Back to risks. I am not advising you to use the logic of your 10 year old self, but the courage. Just as Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego took a risk in standing up for what they believed in, I encourage you to stay firm in your beliefs and take risks accordingly.

Franklin D. Roosevelt said it best, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." This quote is so poignant  and personal. As a little girl I was deathly terrified of dogs. Our house was being renovated and had scaffolding outside and anytime a dog entered our backyard I would scream in terror and climb the scaffolding to avoid the vicious beast below. I did this for a while until one afternoon my little sister Sarah strutted right out to the dog and pet it like it was nothing. In that moment I knew I had to "man up" and face my fears. I forced myself to walk toward the mongrel while freaking out inside and pet it with a shaky hand. This was a great moment for my psyche because I realized that I could conquer my fears.

There are many risks in life that make our hearts race or our knees shake, but we can be successful. So I urge you, no. . . I TRIPLE DOG DARE YOU to take a risk and change your life for the better. Half the fun is not knowing what will happen. I leave you with quotes from more eloquent speakers than I to hopefully encourage you on your journey toward taking a risk:

No man is worth his salt who is not ready at all times to risk his well-being, to risk his body, to risk his life, in a great cause.
-Theodore Roosevelt

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.
-Voltaire