We Will Rock You.

So the other night on the ride home Queen's "We Will Rock You" came on the radio. The weather was nice, we were situated in 23 mph traffic on I-40 so I cranked it up and rolled down the windows. While the kids enjoyed clapping to the bold intro, it became incredibly apparent to me that this song is absolutely wasted on any venue other than a basketball game. Specifically in my high school gym. The down beats are designed for stomping your feet on metal bleachers, sending a resounding chorus of metal and wood slamming together throughout the weak acoustic space. A single clap is manageable for even the most rhythmically challenged. And the lyrics could not be more simple. Thinking of this put a huge smile on my face.

Why am I suddenly swooning over the squeak of too-clean waxed wood floors, loud buzzers and horrible gym lighting? It's March madness, and while, I confess, I have not watched one single game of the entire season, I look forward to watching the tournament. My family loves it. My grandparents will be glued to their recliners all weekend, headphones on, TV trays stocked with necessary items. My mom will be quoting stats about players, teams and any other historical data she wants to conjure up from her lifetime love-affair with the sport. Dad will pace the floor, throwing his hands to his head in exacerbation when the winning shot is missed, doing his knee-raise dance when it's not. Calen will assume the title of most intellectual-all-knowing-basketball commentator and anguish through the coming games. He'll likely be sick afterwards.

What really makes it fun is the quasi-official bracket tournament that I participate in. I randomly - seriously - won last year by betting it all on Duke, so I figured why fix what's not broken? My logic of selecting teams is skewed between random loyalty and best records. I don't have UT making it past the first round and I've likely ostracized a few family members with that maneuver. And with most of Thursday's games behind us I've already given up a ton of wins to ODU's loss to stupid Butler. My Dad's alma, Univ. of North Colorado lost to SDSU, Brian's alma, which prompted his, "Good job ol' chap" voicemail on the machine. My mom repeatedly reminded Brian to watch...he forgot.

So tomorrow we'll start laughing and cheering as Rebecca tallies our office competition points. My only goal in this effort is to beat Annie, Chip and Catherine, as no pot of money is as valuable as the random bragging rights!

Go Duke!