Lexington, KY - March is a month people look forward to -
especially people east of the Mississippi, south of the Ohio, west of the Big Sandy and north of the Tennessee border. And if the picture on this page is any indication, I'm not referring to the anticipation of warmer weather.
Somewhat embarrassingly, I get myself worked up into a March Madness frenzy with a fanatic's vehemence. And this year, after the dour draught of the past two seasons, the redemption of the UK basketball program has rendered me an extremist thirsty for salvation.
But my eagerness for March is bittersweet. I look forward to the month the same way you embrace the inevitability of the last day of vacation. It's great to be afforded the distraction, and truth be told, you don't want it to end. Why would you? You're having a great time.
This year I was able to pilfer a photographer's pass from the athletics association to all of the games at Rupp Arena, and aside from one cold, bedridden night, I was crouched on the baseline for every game, huddled behind a representative from a media outlet that had a lot more business being there than I did. Sometimes I had to quietly subdue my enthusiasm, since gratuitously flaunting your favoritism is a faux pas when wielding a press pass. Sometimes the game was well-past tip-off before I remembered to take out my camera. (Even so, I still got a few good shots; visit our Web site to see galleries from all the games.)
The final home game is the first weekend of March, and then it is on to the SEC tournament in Nashville, then the NCAA tournament. Even if the team does (please, please) extend the season into the first weekend of April (when the Final Four is scheduled to take place in Indianapolis), the season's finality still looms in March.
While I'll miss watching the games and some of the players I probably won't get a chance to photograph again, I'll really miss some of the inherent bells and whistles this season has provided. I had something to look forward to nearly every Tuesday night and Saturday afternoon, not to mention the Monday and Wednesday mornings when like-minded co-workers would become spontaneous sports commentators as we put off the pressing matters of the day to offer our analysis of the previous victory.
I've never been closer to my dad -
when I see his number pop up on my cell phone, I know it's not an emergency; he's actually calling me to talk about UK basketball. What are we going to talk about after March? The weather?