It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year ... For Sports
Posted
Jerad Shaw-
Wow, that was a long couple of weeks! There’s always a lull in my sports life after the Super Bowl, and before the Daytona 500. After Sunday’s race, which I believe failed to continue the momentum gained after the new chase format last year, business is about to pick up. The month of March has always been the month I look forward to all year long. The IHSAA is prepared to crown eight new basketball state champions between the boys and girls tournaments. Spring Training games will be underway in full effect in Florida and Arizona. And of course March Madness kicks off with conference tournaments, followed by the 68-team, single elimination tourney. Even the WWE has their marquee event, Wrestlemania, in the month of March. That leads me to what excites me more about this upcoming month. Being a basketball fan, watching the state finals in Indianapolis (where it belongs for the girls, not Fort Wayne or Terre Haute) is always something I look forward to. A win Saturday for Tippy Valley, and that excitement grows! What a run for Coach Kindig and the Lady Vikings. The Lady Vikings will play a Rochester team that they beat by 12 earlier this season. I think it’s safe to say the atmosphere in the Tiger Den Saturday will bring back some memories of times that, unfortunately, we we rarely see these days. Broadcastasting the game will be Hall of Famer Rita Price. In her 40 years of working in radio and calling basketball games, this will be her first opportunity to call the Valley girls in a semistate game. One of the things I miss about coaching and scouting is listening to Rita on the way home. Her voice is synonymous with Tippy Valley sports, as well as Indiana high school sports in general. So, for those of us that can’t make it to the game, we are in the best hands we possibly could be in. As regular season play winds down, all fingers are pointing to March Madness and the NCAA tourney. Normally cause for excitement in my house, this year has been toned down a little bit. I’d say it’s got a lot to do with the success of that team just south of Indiana. There’s no reason to use that team’s name in this article, but they look to be an unstoppable force that could make the tourney not only depressing, but unwatchable for an IU fan like myself. Speaking of IU, March can’t come soon enough for the Hoosiers. Febuary wasn’t very good to them. To this point the Hoosiers are 3-3, and were even beaten at home by the Purdue Boilermakers this past week. While Purdue is home to my favorite college basketball manager in the country, former Warsaw Tiger Brock Davis, IU losing that game normally puts me in a downward spiral for a week. This week it almost felt like it was OK. It’s not bad to let little brother win every once in a while, because we all know when there’s something more at stake how it will end up. Or at least that’s what I keep telling myself. That leaves us with the smell of fresh-cut grass and the pop of a baseball mitt. Since I was 6 years old, Spring Training was always something I enjoyed hearing about. Some random and snowy day, my dad would always ask me if I knew what started in a couple of days. When he would tell me Spring Training, the excitement of being able to watch Andre Dawson and Ryan Sandberg grace the friendly confines in a few short weeks was too much to handle. It’s safe to say that excitement hasn’t been around the last handful of years for us Cubs fans. This year, that excitement gets renewed as Theo Epstein has put together a roster that may not win the division this year, but is certainly heading in the right direction. Seeing pictures of the pitchers and catchers working out in Mesa, Ariz., was a site for sore eyes. Even the snow and cold temperatures here couldn’t hold back my exuberance for what is coming. Winter is slowly coming to an end, and March is the gateway to spring. Forgive me if I don’t mind some cold weather, because I’ve got plenty to keep me busy.
