How I Became a Real Basketball Fan In Just 48 Hours
Well, it seems to be one of those times of year where my generic, topic-free blog turns into a little sports blog again. For not being much of a basketball fan, I’ve sure been obsessed with it over the last couple of days. Sure, a good bit of that probably stems from football withdrawal or just being overly competitive with my prediction bracket against all my friends (it’s never about money, always bragging rights), but after my Deadspin adventure Thursday night, I was really thrown into the thick of it.
I researched the teams, got myself caught up on all the stuff I missed not watching enough basketball over the past few months, and then I really really watched the game. I found myself (gasp!) enjoying watching basketball, with the same level of craziness I do watching football. I’d watch two games at once thanks to CBS’s streaming video, I’d plan my meals around tip-off times, and once it was all done, I virtually watched it all over again on SportsCenter for three hours at the end of the day.
I’ve been a bandwagon basketball fan come tournament time before, but this year it’s a totally different story. This year, I feel really determined to watch more basketball next year, all season long. I’m gonna pay attention to all the teams, become a little bit of an expert, just like I do for football. I’m gonna add all those little mid-major “basketball schools” to my repertoire of colleges about which I know all sorts of mundane facts, mostly involving the history of their mascots. So maybe next year I’ll have a half-decent prediction bracket that’s not just based on geography- and football-related biases. And I’ll beat significantly more of my friends, not just Barack Obama.
