An Ode to College Basketball's Greatest Fan

I have met the greatest college basketball fan, and I know this without a shadow of a doubt because he's the only one of his kind.

He never jumps at bad calls or plays, but rather applauds the best ones. He understands that not every call and ball rolls his way and accepts that every referee is different. He knows it does no good at all to complain, but only to overcome.

He wants to balance what's best for the team with understanding the wants and the needs of the individual. Much more so and mostly, however, he hopes that what's best for the team fills the wants and needs of every individual.

He wants to be as close to the action as he can be, but not at the risk of missing the action. He knows that to be next to the court and game is an irreplaceable experience, but to see the court and watch the game is what he really loves.

He is not the kind of fan who would ignore responsibilities to see a game, but would go yet a step further. He will work his absolute hardest to take care of his responsibilities first and give everything he has left to the game. I can assure you that his hardest and best is far more than plenty, and that seeing the game after his efforts is the greatest reward he can receive.

He will be the first to smile at the end of a game, but never to celebrate a victory. Rather, it is his way of congratulating his team on a job well done, and to thank them in a sense for the joy they bring him.

I know he is the greatest college basketball fan because, unlike nearly every other fan I've seen and known, he respects that to watch and love this game is not a right, but a privilege, and that's what makes this game truly great.

Most importantly, I know he's the greatest college basketball fan because being a good or bad fan makes absolutely no difference to him whatsoever. Fanhood is not his goal, but simply a byproduct of his admiration for the game.

This game would be absolutely nothing without the loud and rowdy fans that fill either end of Phog Allen Fieldhouse at every Kansas home basketball game, but in a college hoops world that demands that every fan be this kind of fan, it takes a big fan not to do the same.

I'll try not to embarrass him completely, but he is the friend I know as G-Unit, and this is my ode to him and every fan like him.