This is Why it’s Called March Madness
Sunday, March 23rd, 2008My friend at work and I had a hankering for some lunchtime H&M shopping this past week because the weather was so gorgeous, and store windows have become so springy. At H&M, I eyed a pair of metallic blue ballet flats and just had to get them. Usually, I get more subdued flats like black, silver, or gold. These bright blue ones were so striking that I thought it would work wonderfully with my warm weather outfits.
Yesterday, I got to go to the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament at the Honda Center in Anaheim. I rustled up my UCLA basketball jersey and something seemed all too familiar. AHA! The ballet flats I just bought a few days before were the same exact palette as the stripes of royal blue nylon along the sides of the jersey. It’s not often when you are able to make a cute outfit from an otherwise sporty get-up.
Those who don’t know me, I bleed bruin blue and gold (which flows through my veins along with the Lakers and Dodgers platelets). Going to this game was a big deal, and them winning it an even bigger one. I can’t single out the bad officiating as the reason for the close game. Our team just seemed off, out of sync, lethargic. So with 10 minutes left in the game and the Bruins down 10 points, I felt sick to my stomach that the #1 seed in the West, the highly touted, often predicted champs of this year’s tourney, MY UCLA Bruins would get upset in the second round. We whittled down their lead and finally tied it with a few minutes left. As the game went down the final 10 seconds, Collison scored a basket as the 90% bruin fanbase erupted. A steal and game punctuating dunk at the end of the game sealed the deal. So I was able to breathe a sigh of relief, I looked down at my sparkling blue ballets and smiling knowingly that they transformed to my lucky bruin shoes.
So it’s not smooth sailing from here on out. The game against the #9 Texas A&M Aggies just proved how nothing’s a guarantee and how many holes the bruins have in their game. They need to step it up big time for the next round if they even want to have a chance to reach the Elite Eight. So for Thursday’s game, K. Love and Collison should do exactly what they’ve been doing, Shipp needs to practice his shooting, Mbah a Moute can read up on what “travelling” means, and they better just hope that I’ll be sporting my bruin ballet flats.
