March Madness

March madness is here. This is what I live for. Sports. Love them. Every year at this time I experience this nervousness that I have right now. This year is the first time I can experience this as a married man. The first time KU lost a game while I was dating Natalie was quite an interesting moment. When I say interesting it means I probably acted like a jerk. My sweet wife did not understand why I was so upset over a game. I went on to explain to her that this game meant so much because in the NBA you have 82 games so if you lose 1 it’s not that bad but in college basketball you only have about 35 games so if you lose 1 game that you aren’t supposed to it is a big deal. We had this conversation in the Rees Hall lobby. She thought I was crazy and I thought that she just didn’t understand. But I as I look back at it maybe I am the one that just didn’t understand. Sometimes I see fans of the same team that I follow not get as upset as I am when our team loses. This makes me a little upset. I think to myself “what is wrong with these people”? “Don’t they know that this was a huge game that we just lost”? I then go on to think of them as bootsy fans. My buddy and I were talking and he is just as big as a sports fan as I am and he told me something that I had not thought about. He said “Richard you and I are not normal. Everyone else is normal and we are obsessed and sports take over our lives.” This makes me feel bad for Natalie. She could have married someone who was into something that she would enjoy like gardening but she had to marry someone who loves sports. Maybe she thinks that this is normal. I hope she does. Or maybe I can grow a little bit and put things into perspective. I am always searching for truth and for the bottom line. For a lot of people happiness comes from their sports teams winning the big game. If you are a Pittsburgh Steelers fan 2009 will probably be a great year for you. If you are a dedicated Florida Gator fan then times could not be better. I am a KU fan. Since we won the championship last year it is probably easier for me to say this but if you are waiting for a team to win the big game for your happiness then you are living a sad existence. You might be waiting for a long time. I flipped open the book “Steps To Christ a couple of minutes ago and the second sentence in the book says “Our Father in heaven is the source of life, wisdom, and of joy.” That means to me if you are looking for these three things and you have been looking for them in places other then from God you will be searching for a long time. The odds of your team winning in the big dance aren’t very good. For most fans their team will lose before the championship game. So please don’t use that for your happiness. Instead develop that relationship with Christ and your life will be filled with blessings and happiness. Someone please remind me that I wrote this after the Jayhawks lose in the tournament.