March Madness

March Madness has always been one of our family's favorite times of the year.  Even this year when IU had no chance of making the tournament, we all had fun believing that they might still get in by winning the Big Ten Tournament.  When they were ousted by Nebraska in a very lopsided game, none of us stayed sad for very long.  Instead, we talked about next year's chances, new recruits and our picks for the tournament.  I quickly sent out the invites for the family pool and everyone filled out their brackets.

March Madness officially started last Tuesday with the play-in games, but none of us really watched any games until the first round on Thursday.  Most of us watched off and on all day then and again on Friday.  Cameron watched with his floor mates in the lounge when he wasn't in class.  Cal worked from home most of those days and then headed to Indy with his friends for Saturday and Sunday games.  Nick used our YouTube TV to watch when it wasn't maxed out with viewers.  In turn he kept Meg updated on all of the important games.  Brett followed through Grandma and Grandpa's texts while Doug and I kept two different games on most of the weekend with one on the lanai television and another in the living room.  

It was so much fun keeping track of everyone's brackets online, seeing the family texts back and forth, and most importantly watching the #3 seed Kentucky lose in the first round.  There were some heartbreaking games like Wisconsin's early loss or the end of Oakland's Cinderella story run in the second round.  There were also a few extremely boring games with several big blow outs, especially on Friday and Saturday nights.  The biggest news for our family, besides Grandpa's championship pick - Kentucky - falling apart, was the leader of the Heinisch pool after the weekend's games had ended.  Meg had taken a huge lead and still had UNC going strong leading into the Sweet Sixteen.  We were all happy for her, except maybe Nick, who had spent five minutes on her pool after studying his picks for hours landing him in 6th place once the clock ran out in the final game.  First or last, the best part about March Madness is and always has been the family bonding that it creates for us each spring, melting miles away and creating memories that will last a lifetime.