Confessions of Basketball Junkies

This is the time of year every basketball junkie dreams about.

Once the final 65 teams are announced for the annual NCAA Tournament we can begin accumulating our snacks and beverages, filling out our brackets, joining in the office pools, making sure our recliners are in proper working order, and announce to anyone who might need to know: "If you have anything you'd like to say to me in the next few weeks, say it now."

The first weekend there are games on television almost every waking hour. It's basketball fan heaven. This is March Madness, and I mean madness in the good way. Although, after looking at some of the spectators in the stands, that may not be completely true for everyone.

There are basketball fans, and then there are basketball fanatics. Being a fanatic apparently requires head gear and body paint. I can't help but wonder what the mother of the guys who are wearing crowns and have their bare chests painted blue is thinking as she watches her offspring on national television.

I remember my father telling me one time, "If I had done that when I was in college, and if we had cell phones back then, mine would have been ringing as soon as my image crossed the screen. On the other end, one of my parents would be asking in a very loud, parental voice, 'We're spending thousands of dollars to send you to college only for you to dress yourself up like the village idiot for national TV?'"

He told me most likely there would be more said, but that's the part I can repeat in public.

For basketball fans this time of year is like Christmas, only it lasts for more than two weeks. The tournament begins in earnest with 32 games spread over four days. It's exhausting, but this is what basketball addicts live for.

Of course, we all know that with each game completed there is one fewer for us to watch. The hype and anxiety builds as the field of 64 soon becomes 32. Then we have only 16 teams left and we begin the countdown, complete with clever titles.

We are aware as we try to return to work and a normal life on Mondays that this basketball gluttony will end soon. The Sweet 16 will be whittled down to the Elite 8 after just one more round. Then, by the end of today, we'll know who the Final Four will be.

When we push back in our recliners on April 6 to watch the championship game, it will be bittersweet. The biggest game is still to be played, but we know it will also be the last of this season. With the last tick off the game clock, there will be no more college basketball games to watch, no more home teams or underdogs for which to root.

We can't help but feel the loss of our beloved sport and pastime as the confetti falls on the 2009 national champions. But we're lucky, because we know that in mid-October the new season begins and it will soon be Christmas all over again.

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