Cutting Down the Nets

March Madness is a fantastic time of the year. Thrilling games, wild upsets, Cinderella stories. So many things to love.

And one of the things I love best is the tradition of cutting down the nets. It happens at the end of each conference tournament with the winning team cutting down the nets, claiming victory and marching forward, guaranteed, to the NCAA Tournament. It happens at the end of each regional final, with the victorious team cutting down the nets, claiming victory and marching forward to the Final Four. And it happens at the end of the tournament, claiming victory and marking the end of the accomplishment.

But think about what else it does: it transforms the net from something useful to something destroyed. Sure, it's a great sign of victory, but it's also a sign saying "we've done all we can here, now we need to move forward. We can celebrate this victory, but we can't just dwell on it forever."

A couple of weeks back at jOURney, we talked about Philipians 3, and how Paul lists some of his great accomplishments and calls them basically trash. And I got to thinking last night, that the cutting down of nets is a great analogy to our accomplishment list that is similar (but pales in comparison) to Paul.

I'd never say that what we've done and what we've accomplished is completely worthless. It's great to have memories and to learn and grow. But we can't keep standing on the ground of what we won/accomplished/did/learned/etc. That will never move us forward.

By "cutting down our nets", we get to celebrate an accomplishment in the moment, but we also get a reminder that we need to move forward. We're left with a personal trophy that won't mean much to anyone else, but it's a reminder of success we had in the past that will help us in the future. But we can't just throw that old net back up there, because it won't work anymore. We have to rely on our faith and the talents God has given us to move forward, not the stockpile of trophies.

(And Trevor, can you believe it ... it's been weeks and I still remember this teaching? Amazing, isn't it?)

Two Years in a Row

The Buckeyes, for the second year in a row, begin March Madness as a #1 seed.


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... of course this year, that's a #1 seed in the NIT tournament.

Anyone wanna do an NIT bracket pick'em with me? Going on the results of the last 15 months, I'll take the Buckeyes are NIT runner-up.

March Madness

It's college basketball season. And I love it.

There are so many reasons to love college basketball. There are good fundamentals. There's a lot of passion. There's a lot of unpredictability. There is always a chance for a Cinderella story. There's a love of the game that's pure and not (always) money-driven.

But in the basketball I've watched this week, I've found another, more hidden reason to love college basketball.

It seems just about every team has (at least) one white guy who plays with a t-shirt under his jersey and looks completely unathletic while doing so.

And for some reason, I enjoy that.

Maybe I'm twisted. Maybe it gives me hope for my unathletic body. Maybe there's some other reason.

But it's true.

A sports conundrum

As anyone who reads this blog knows, I'm a huge sports fan. And I follow the rules of being a sports fan. You can cheer for two teams in a professional league, provided they are in different conferences, and provided you have a clear preference on who wins should they ever meet. Also, you can cheer for a good number of teams in college sports, provided you have a good reason to cheer for that team, and provided you can slot them in order of preference should they ever meet, again so there's always a clear team you are rooting for.

But, tonight, I'm faced with a situation unlike any I have ever faced before in my years of being a sports nut. There's a game tonight that impacts two of the college teams I cheer for. The Buckeyes of Ohio State, and the Cleveland State Vikings.

The Buckeyes are clearly on "the bubble" for entry to the NCAA Tournament. They could be in, they could be out. CBS says they're in. ESPN says they're in with a win over MSU. SI says they're in with a win and not too many upsets of mid-major locks in their tournament.

Cleveland State plays Butler tonight for the Horizon League Championship. If they win, they are in the tournament. And Butler will take an at-large bid assuredly. If they lose, Butler gets the Horizon league's auto-invite, and there's one more at-large big available for the Buckeyes to chase.

So, how do we cheer here? The laws of sports fandom don't seem to apply. I think I'll have to rely on logic.

And I think I've come to a conclusion.

I'm going to cheer for a CSU victory tonight. Ohio State can get in, even with Butler taking up an at-large bid. Ohio State might get shut out, even if Butler doesn't take up at an large bid. So, I'll cheer for the sure thing: a victory tonight and at least one of CSU/OSU will be in the Big Dance. A loss tonight, and it's possible neither will make it.

So, go Vikings (and Go Buckeyes this weekend)