It's heeeere!!!

Shakespeare fans and history lovers hail the Ides of March, but the few days afterwards are even more important. This year, the Big Day was today. It's the unveiling of March Madness, which reminds me every year how much I. love. hoops. The draw was revealed -- all 64 teams -- with many anticipated match-ups and great potential for upsets.

I'm a Pac-10 baby (okay, to show my age, I'll admit I grew up a Pac-8 baby), and always ready to defend the honor of MY conference with its perennial second class status compared to the Eastern/Southeastern conferences. It's that terminal East Coast Sportswriters bias for sure, coupled with not wanting to stay up late to watch West Coast games, plus an unacknowledged resentment that we get to enjoy mild winters AND excellent college basketball.

So here are the teams I'll be watching:

1. Stanford, clearly, and I foresee a lot of nail-biting while spectating. I love Coach Trent Johnson, but always feel that no matter how much we're ahead, our lead gets swallowed up at the end of the game. But the team is fired up this year, as well as hyper-aware how many eyes are upon them. Including those of a kazillion NBA scouts, salivating over Brook Lopez and hoping he'll be the first Stanford player to leave for the pro ranks after his sophomore year. (For the record, I hope he and his twin Robin stay another year. But I'm like that.) : )
   
2. I always root for UCLA (how could you not -- for their epic history, those cute powder blue and gold uniforms, and my boy Lorenzo Mata-Real closing out his senior year) because they are incredible ambassadors for the league.
   
3. And this year, I'll have my eye on the University of San Diego, because they're coached by Brad Holland -- a former Bruin and Laker from the old days (a.k.a, my youth.)

Other than that, I'm wide open -- available to be swept up by whatever Cinderella team(s) emerge(s), with no allegiances to any other conference. I will be finalizing my bracket selections along with the BFF's oldest. We are of contrasting styles -- he's the pragmatist, picks quickly, loves the big names. I'm more emotional -- can't back Siena since they knocked Stanford out in the first round back in '89, indifferent to Duke, neutral on Georgetown, willing to go with Xavier since the BFF's sibs went there. And Gonzaga's always good in the mix. The fun starts Tuesday morning -- and I'll have to leave the TV for the BFF's son's last league basketball game. Start out the day with collegiate hoops, end it watching the 8-12 year olds. Do I love basketball, or what?

Today's other high point was finishing up Ann Packer's latest novel, Song Without Words. I've been a fan of Packer's since the early 90's with her short story collection, Mendocino, and novel, The Dive from Clausen's Pier. I'd attended her reading from the new novel last fall and decided to put my name on the library hold list rather than buying the hardback on the spot. I'd formed an opinion, or maybe a snap judgement, based on the passage she'd read, and expected the novel to be somewhat flat and formulaic. Local setting, suburban family crisis, examination of lifelong friendship between two women. Well yes, the book included all that, but Packer transformed the material into something moving and individual, pushing past all the cliches. I'm really glad I read it and am happy to recommend it to friends -- it's not the easiest subject matter, but you'll be swept up in the story quickly and effortlessly. This is another reason that I read -- to be shown how many shades there are to any plot, to universal stories; and to surprise myself. Despite what expectations I may have set, or a review has set for me, I can still be taken aback by what a skilled writer can do -- which may mean changing my mind completely.