March Insanity: The Year of the Basketball Fan with Heart

By Maggie O'Shea on March 17, 2013

Once again, it’s that time of year when basketball fans around the country can throw their hopes and dreams into brackets, Cinderella stories, and buzzer beaters, but there is something different about this year. Admittedly with a biased perspective, I have watched this season unfold literally and figuratively at the edge of my seat. After tuning in to bits and pieces of the Big Ten Tournament, my father eloquently told me, “It’s not going to be madness this year, it’s going to be complete insanity.”

I am not the most knowledgeable basketball fan, but I am a fan that will shed a few tears when her team faces hardship, especially after a tough loss in the tournament last year. Regardless of being at home, the actual basketball venue, or any public place, I can’t sit still in my seat and will yell whatever comes to mind. Even though I often overlook player statistics and generally follow other fans’ cues at basketball games, I still know deep down something has been brewing all season long.

This is the season where college students find themselves staring amazed at television sets at their local gym because Miami (FL) took down Duke in late January, and Minnesota beat Indiana late in the season. This is the season where sports insiders don’t have the answers. This is the season where superstitions work and games aren’t over until the fat lady sings or at least until the final buzzer. This is the season where no team is safe and no fan can ever go into a game with complete confidence.

With March Madness about to unfold, this is the season for the fan who is going to fill out his or her bracket with his or her heart. This is the season where the heart trumps a head full of statistics and rankings. This is not the season for sports analysts, journalists, and announcers, but the season for the fan who will cheer for his or her favorite college team with screams, claps, and maybe even a few tears. This is the season of the Cinderella team, where March Madness is going to be 68 teams vying for that glass slipper. This is the season where anything can happen. This has been a season of insanity that has built a foundation for complete March Madness.

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