The kids are alright!

It never felt like we were all in on Las Vegas until we peeled off the rubber band and unfolded the Las Vegas Review-Journal to the lead story of that morning, “Brothels fire back on Reid”. Libya is bombing their citizens. The economy is teetering with little insulation. Nevada has different concerns. Brothels are well brothels and Reid is our US Senator Harry Reid. The whores are upset that Senator Reid wants to close them down. With unemployment at 14%, the housing debacle and construction in the dumpster, it does not appear that prostitution is where Senator Reid needed to focus his attention and our tax dollars at this time. US Senators should be careful when they start calling out the working girls. The US Senate and prostitution are not always that different.

March Madness is at fever pitch in Sin City. The spate of basketball tournaments has attenuated the signal in the days leading up to the brackets being announced on Sunday. The Yard has opened the annual basketball pool. Credit card limits have been analyzed in the unlikely event that this Bruin team makes a run for Indy. The 2006 Trek to Hoosierville was a MasterCard moment that is still being paid for and will be passed on in our codicils. Indianapolis is one of the best cities to go to for the Final Four. Indy gets the Final Four every four years because the NCAA said it is so. During the finals, downtown is packed with college basketball being preached on every street corner. There is no event that is more than two beers away from the last one.

Basketball in Indiana is not a game. It is more. Indiana was set to observe Daylight savings for the first time in state history in 2006. The farmer’s clocks were set to spring ahead at 2:00 AM for the first time since the invention of clocks. The UCLA-LSU National Semifinal would end near midnight that night. The governor had to take executive action and push the deadline to 4:00 AM to ensure the bars stayed open. When UCLA pasted Big Baby and LSU that night we toasted a politician who had that kind of foresight. We had no idea then it was going to be the only game that UCLA would win in three straight visits to the Final Four. Fortunately, we partied like it was.

There are colleges and mascots who will be placed into brackets this Sunday that we will have never hear of now or again. The Long Island Blackbirds are in and representing the Northeastern Conference. The Wofford Terriers are in the dance as well. The basketball Blue Bloods will dominate but never intimidate. North Carolina and Kentucky change out their superstars every spring. George Mason and Butler athletes play together through their senior season. They are the kids who might play pro in another profession but they can still play. They have played together for years, will graduate on time and upset a Blue Blood. Which one is the devil in your pool?

For the chosen who embrace the March brilliance, we share collective moments that will always be clear even as the mind fogs. The late Jim Valvano doing laps around the basketball court looking for someone to hug when NC State upset Clyde and The Dream in 1983. In 1992, Christian Laettner corralling a 75 foot pass from Grant Hill to sink a 17 foot jump in overtime to beat Kentucky 104-103 after the Wildcats had taken a one point lead with two seconds left. Bruin Tyus Edney’s 4.8 second dash down the length of the court dash to beat Missouri in 1995. Valparaiso guard Bryce Drew draining a 23 foot jumper with no time on the clock to beat Ole Miss in 1998. Jayhawks Mario Chalmers game tying shot 3-pointer that pushed the 2008 Championship game into a runaway victory for underdog Kansas. Every moment has alternative perspective based in geography or in your place in your pool.

Gas prices are hovering at $4 per gallon. Charlie Sheen and Moammar Gadfhi are in a spiraling death match of insane irrelevance. Wisconsin is in revolt. Tune in a college basketball game and cheer for your team or an underdog or neither. Their colloquial passion will refresh your spirit. Their enthusiasm will rekindle your soul. And deep in your heart of hearts, ask yourself why it is that college education is so underwater and CBS is paying billions to telecast college basketball?