What a lovely way to take the grey out of March and early April
and color it blue and white,
to have not one team but two to root for this weekend
in the Final Four,
the incredible UConn Huskies.
I remember covering the UConn Women's Basketball team back in the mid '90's, writing color stories that magical first NCAA Championship season when the smallest fans would gather after games, hoping for autographs, and the players would stop and chat and sign their programs and notebook pages and tell them that if they wanted to be Huskies they should always practice hard and study hard.
I remember talking with the director of an assisted living facility who said the residents there crowded around the TV in the common room every game night and all they could talk about were "their girls." And I member driving up to Storrs to the pep rally after they won that first title. Fans were stopped on overpasses holding up banners and folks cheered and waved posters all along Route 195 as their bus passed by, then they crowded into Gampel Pavilion to celebrate with them and to say thanks for such a ride.
Twenty years have passed and it's every bit as magical. Twenty years later and we're all still rooting on each new group of players and the coaches who, year in and out, give it their all.
Five individuals on the court who find a way to play as one.
How very lucky we are.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2014/04/01/sports/ncaabasketball/ap-bkc-uconn-final-four.html?ref=sports
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