I've Got Spring Break beating St. Pattys Day in My Bracket

There's a good bit going on this week....particularly today.  Obviously, because it's 11 AM, you know that I'm not teaching today.(Praise Jesus!)  It is Spring Break after all and I'm psyched about it, but it is already half way gone.  Looking back at all the Spring Breaks I've ever had, this one is tied for the best ever.(06' was magical)  I have done nothing this week but fill out my brackets(get to that shortly), play golf and watch high school baseball.  It might not sound like much to you but to me I couldn't have asked for anything else.  Now I know a great deal of people who like to go to the beach, but I've finally realized that I'm just not one of them.  Have I had fun at the beach?  Of course I have, but I'm more of a homebody or mountain type.  I think that spring break has gotten out of control in terms of generic activities that take place at the beach.  For instance: It's apparently a must to play drinking games all week and get as drunk as possible.  It's also a must to have a beach game set up(football, frisbee, or the little bean bag thingy game).  Each SEC School will be clearly represented on the beach because I guess it's cool to let people know "Hey this is the Auburn section if you wanna hang out or fight." You have to go to the hottest night club around.  I'm just not really into that stuff as I was once.  If I had to go to the beach now, I'd be more concerned with where I'm going to eat and I'd also try to find a more exclusive activity like sailing or something.  Anyhow, I've never appreciated a spring break as much as the current one.  As a teacher, I think we need the break as much as the students. 

As for St. Patricks Day, I don't really have much to say.  As of about 7 minutes ago I knew very little about the holiday, but I decided to wikipedia scearch it and found out a few things.  The first actually color to represent St. Patricks day was blue.  The wearing of the green actually just meant to wear a shamrock on your clothing.  The month of March is actually declared Irish-American Heritage month.  I'm not going to continue to bore you with facts, so I'll just get to what I really associate with this day.  As long as I've been alive I have associated St. Patricks Day with luck.  I remember as a kid, we looked for 4 leaf clovers and were told that if you find one you'll have luck for the rest of your life, among other unfathomable wishes.  I never found one, but I do believe in luck.  Anyone that gambles definitely believes in it.  Anyone that is associated with sports definitely believes it(ex. Butler Basketball 2010, Fresno State Baseball 2009).  I've heard many people say in my lifetime that sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.  I couldn't agree more.

Lastly, today is a special day for most competitive Americans.  All week we've filled out our brackets, we've crunched the numbers and weighed our odds.  Today is the true beginning of March Madness.(I don't count that play-in game crap.)  The team I root for is sitting at home this year(didn't even get an NIT bid) and to be quite frank, that's exactly where they deserve to be.  As for the tournament itself, I don't know if there is a more exciting month in television.  You get to see college kids pour their hearts out into a simple game and witness amazing things in the process.  Butler last year is a prime example.  No one believed in them.  Yeah they were a good mid-major team, but you can't honestly tell yourself that you had a feeling they'd make the run they did.  I loved it.  It gives other teams with less resources than the big time programs a reason to believe they can do something special.

Well, I'm missing too much basketball writing this so I will leave you with my strong encouragement to sit back and see if this year's Cinderella story can get lucky enough on their Spring Break to truly do something special.

Thanks for reading,
McKinley