March Madness!

I remember walking towards the corner of Euclid, like thousands of others in town, to watch the crowd after UK won the finals. Euclid and Patterson was the epicenter of celebration, and you could tell from miles away. In fact, I never made it actually to the corner -- it was amazing how many people could be fit into such a small block.

Everyone was in a good mood, although of course you had some students who took things too far. Considering the fact that I can count the times I have "whooped it up" in any sense of the word in one hand, I remember feeling safer knowing that the riot police were on hand. The next day we heard stories of cars being turned over, and a guy who climbed to the very top of the sign on the corner to wave a UK flag. He had to stand up there for hours until they could bring in a firetruck to bring him down.

But the fact remained that the tournament is a magical, jubilant time in the Bluegrass, and I will never forget the two (2!) national championships that were won while I was there.

So, when I look at the brackets for the NCAA tournament, I feel especially compelled to choose Kentucky to go as far as possible, eventhough I don't really watch basketball much at all. I would love to be part, just in a little way, of a national championship again. So I've put together my brackets, using my tried-and-true methodology, using my first impressions of the team colors, mascots, and whether I have actually see them play or not. Oh, and UK going all the way to the finals :).

UPDATE: Anne also remembers the Euclid corner! BTW, Memoirs of a Geisha is a great book! And Anne, don't worry about the marathon as well -- we'll be back in town in the summer, maybe we can do a 5k or something?