March Madness

I am a junky and this is my time!

I love basketball and March Madness feeds my addiction. Since selection Sunday, I have listened to the radio and television commentators, read a few articles and looked at my brackets on numerous occasions. The television is all set (Becky has made it clear that the basement is for basketball viewing). I have been working on using the jump feature to switch channels as well as perfecting picture in picture to keep track of several games at a time. I have a stack of magazines and a pile of books ready to feed my ADD. I can’t just sit and watch games, but if I am doing a couple of other things at the same time, it makes the day/night really enjoyable.

         

This year I am in a pool with some long-time Chicago friends. We take the winner out to dinner. I also compare my brackets with my son, Jesse, who may have inherited my addiction. He is actually hosting a final four party on March 31 to which he so graciously invited his dad!

         

March Madness has deep theological significance.

         

Little known schools, from unheralded conferences, can defeat highly favored perennial powers. It’s David and Goliath.

         

Teams fall behind by 20 or 30 points early in the game. You change the channel because that team is buried, only to discover that they mounted an unbelievable comeback for a victory. The dead were raised.

         

Ordinarily the teams that play well together and use each player’s gifts survive the tournament and finish victoriously, mirroring God’s design for the church.

         

The tournament progresses to the culmination with the crowning of a king (champion) at the beginning of Holy Week. We will celebrate the crowning triumph of our King, our resurrected Lord, on the first day of the next week!

         

I have my biases. I prefer college basketball to professional basketball. Too many players in the NBA play lazy defense, if at all. Professional games are too individualized. There is too much one-on-one play and very little teamwork, especially on offense. Too often defense is an afterthought in professional basketball. Professional basketball players make millions of dollars playing a game many of us would play for free, but some of them pout and whine too much about playing time, coaches, fans, the media and every other aspect of life. (That didn’t sound too pastoral!)

I am a basketball junky and this is my time!

I am writing this on Wednesday afternoon. Tonight I will finalize my brackets and get ready for three weeks of pure fun. 

Happy watching and good luck with your brackets.