March Madness

I'm not a huge sports fan. Don't get me wrong, I love playing sports. I've already purchased a whole range of athletic equipment and balls under the guise of "Andrew really wanted one" simply as an excuse to try out the new soccer fields and basketball hoops at the bottom of the hill. So, perhaps I should say I'm not a huge sports spectator. However, after ten years of being upset at NMSU for terminating men's swimming the year after I graduated in the name of Title IX equality (as well as the NCAA for threatening to take away my hard-earned accounting scholarship when I exceeded their allowable limit by $300), I must admit that I've really enjoyed watching my Alma mater come alive in post-season basketball play.

Last night, thanks to Tivo, I managed to catch a full, uninterrupted showing of NMSU's men's basketball in their win over Utah State to take the Western Athletic Conference and earn an invite to the NCAA tournament. Granted Las Cruces hosted the conference playoffs, and the conference's top-rated team, Nevada, failed to advance to the finals, but when big wins have been as elusive as they've been in southern New Mexico the past few years you enjoy any win you can get.

The home court definitely seemed to give NMSU's often sloppy play (the team squandered 14+ point leads a few times throughout the game) an advantage, but Andrew and I got a kick out of the fast-paced action, excited crowd, and numerous turn-overs anyway. Not sure if Andrew knew who he was rooting for but whenever the fans on television were "hootin' and hollerin'" he gleefully joined right in. Leslie, on the other hand, looking for any relief from an eight-months pregnant belly, decided to red-shirt this game in lieu of a soak in the tub with Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, Diana, and Camilla.

NMSU will likely find out its tournament ranking, bracket and next opponent today so we'll be setting up the DVR to make sure we don't miss a minute of their upcoming game (their first tournament invite since I was a student there). In the meantime, Andrew was asking me about the kind of surfboard that would work in decent waist to head-high swells at beach breaks like Huntington, as well as some of the sand bars and reefs around San Onofre. I told him he might want to look into some of the new hybrid fish like Rusty's Piranha or Channel Island's Sashimi.

We'll have to go check those out today - since Andrew was wondering.