Fast Ball Down the 50-Yard Line

I will be the first to admit that I know little to nothing about sports, as evidenced by the title of this particular Huzzah. I have actually uttered this statement, in great earnestness, in public. Fortunately, I think my husband was the only person paying attention; needless to say, I have yet to be relieved of the ensuing embarrassment.

That being said, I am passionate about UNC basketball...I don't really understand it, frankly; I think that if the ball goes into the opposite hoop thing, it's a good thing. Or maybe not, I really couldn't tell you. I do, however, know how to jump up and down and holler when all the other UNC fans do, and to scream in a mad fit when the Duke fans do.

This got me thinking about the peculiar nature of college sports, and college sports affiliations. I can't decide if it has to do with the inherent spirit of varsity athletics or the fact that we're all incredibly idealistic at nineteen and twenty, but there is this tremendously vibrant quiver that we all seem to possess about some college team or another. I was only at Carolina for a year, but it was quite possibly the happiest year of my life, and maybe for that reason alone I am a fan. It's sure as hell not because I understand basketball, try as my husband might to explain it to me. Then again, he in fact worked for Dean Smith and the UNC team as a manager, so at the very least, I have an insider's knowledge at my disposal. Whatever the reason, I cheerfully dressed my not-yet-two-year-old in an UNC "cheerleader" outfit and forced her to "raise the roof" whenever Carolina did something noteworthy.

She still looks at me as though monkeys have flown from my head, but we're hoping that something will take and we'll have a little Heels fan on our hands in a few years time. I also hope that she has a clearer understanding of sports than her mother, because honestly, in my brain, it's highly possible that basketball, college or otherwise, does incorporate a 50 yard line. If any of y'all out there are willing to take the ninety years to explain this to me, I'm all ears. Until that point, I'm perfectly content to just cuss at the TV screen whenever the Blue Devils make their appearance. As a timely aside, I went trawling for a Duke basketball website, and did you know that if you just type in www.bluedevils.com, you end up with an index for sites about managing depression? Prescient? Perhaps so.

Go Heels...