Mad Marchness

The Super Bowl is done, Opening Day is still a few weeks away, the Masters are still a couple of weeks off, and the NBA is not close enough to the playoffs to peak any interest for me. This can be considered by some as Sports Pergutory, but with the drabness of the month of March with it's weather indecisiveness, cold and snowy one day, warm and sunny the next, there is something on the horizon that gets the ole mojo runnin, March Madness is upon us, and for once in I can't remember how many years there is a legit shot of my boys in maize and blue making it to the party. In the second year of the new Beilein era, and with early wins against UCLA and Duke, both ranked 4 at the time, I am butt scised to see if my boys can make it in. There is still a chance the NCAA selection committee will whore them, but there is a legit chance to make it to the show.

I await with bated breath, alright that may be a bit much, but nonetheless I am excited to be excited about UM basketball again. There were years during the Amaker years that were decent and the years with Ellerbe did get an NIT champion, but the sting of the Fab Five era has lasted for so long. Don't get me wrong, one of the main reasons I am such a fan of UM basketball is because the Fab Five. I feel they changed the culture and style of college basketball, with the black socks and baggy shorts. I know there are donks out there that will say their teams had this before the Fab Five but no one pushed it in the face of society like they did. Coach Fischer had the coup of all time by getting these five recruits, some say illegally but that doesn't concern me. I just know I have the lasting memories of watching Jalen Rose toss a behind alley oop to a trailing Jimmy King against Temple, the angry swagger of Chris Webber after one of his many dunks, or the utter shock that five freshmen were starting an NCAA tournament game and causing concern for other teams. Well with those lasting memories, I also have the sour taste of what could have been. Those five should have easily won 2 NCAA titles, however, money called, and the 5 became 4, then subsequent years, down from there. Then, the Dark Years, the probation, lack of recruits, mediocre coaching, and the constant rebuilding we seemed to be in. Well, with Beilein, we were on a three year schedule to become a good team, but with the early wins we are ahead of schedule. Hopefully, by the end of the day, the Wolverines will be dancing in the big show and I can have the nasty taste of the last memory of the Fab Five further pushed out of my mind.