The saying goes that only, “mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noonday sun.” (This was a remark from colonial times when the British Empire was spreading into tropical lands where they had no climatological experience at all and besides that, they were sure to be sending other, lesser locals out into the sun to do work and the locals knew better than to go out and work in the scorching sun.)
To bring the sentiment up-to-date, the saying might go, “Mad fans and school fanatics head off to the tournament (NCAA) games”. Wowzah! I watched a couple of games on TV the other day and have to say that they looked pretty mad to me. Interesting though.
I saw both men’s and women’s games and the thing that I noticed first was the apparent absence of the “traveling”call. Heck, in a number of instances, the player might as well have tucked the ball under their elbow and made a run for it like in football. Keep in mind the fact that I played basketball in ancient times when women had to play half-court (We were too “delicate” to exert ourselves over the full length–might damage our organs, dontcha know.) and the officiating was hell on the traveling rule; I never learned to make a lay-up until I was thirty or so–that was so long ago I hardly remember. Lotsa traveling going on now; they could get “frequent flyers” miles.
And the hair! Equally noticeable in both men’s and women’s games, these players have hair aplenty–long and flying, majorly bushy, intricate patterns braided from the scalp, braids of every size and conformation (This was especially a feature of interest to me since I had my hair in braids until age twelve and NOBODY did braids back in the day like they do now. I have the pictures to prove it.); guys had quite a few styles in facial hair too–no women that I noticed.
The tattoos were pretty interesting as well–lotsa school logos, of course, but that wasn’t the half of it. Flowers, sayings, scenes from comics, family pix, mottos, Bible verses, you name it, you probably could have spotted it on some body’s epidermis out there in front of God and everybody; Lord only knows what was to be seen in the lockerroom. That’ll soon be covered in personal interviews one of these days. Watch for it.
The spectators were another kettle of fish. School colors abounded, for sure, individual player numbers were out there, especially if they were numbers of league -leading scorers or nationally-recognized record-holders in some statistic or other…including coaches, for that matter. And what’s with the fans of Texas Tech waving tortillas?
Interesting fact : A recent coach renowned for building a winning women’s basketball program @ TXTech now has her name on a stretch of highway in the Lone Star State in recognition of this achievement. ‘Bout time, I say.
I am beginning to see what the “March Madness” thing is about but I have never filled out a bracket, nor am I likely to–haven’t a clue how that even works. My style is more likely to involve closing my eyes and tossing a dart at the opening line-up then showing up at the end to see who won. Sorta like my approach to the Lottery. No luck so far, although there have been several scam attempts on my big winnings on sweepstakes. Watch for my new, blue Mercedes.
