You know how there are the 5 stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance? (At least I think that's what they are.) Well, I go through 5 stages of cheering for KU in a given season:
1. Guarded optimism: reading about the hype before the year starts.
2. Slightly dubious enthusiasm: when they're killing everyone non-conference.
3. Complete and total confidence: after a few good wins in conference, usually a sure sign a loss is around the corner: sure enough, I had this feeling directly before the K-State game this year.
4. Fatalistic pessimism: where I'm at currently: I think everything about the Jayhawks right now is screaming "3-point Elite 8 loss to an inferior team like Washington St. or Louisville."
5. Unbridled excitement: usually after they finish strong, either win or play well in the conference tourney, the whole atmosphere of March kicks in, and my hopes are impossibly high.
As for the rest of the country, there are a number of teams that have legitimate title shots. Memphis, Carolina, UCLA (the team that scares me the most), Tennessee, and Georgetown are all ridiculously good. Then there's a second tier of teams that is even bigger (Duke, Texas, Michigan St., UCONN, Louisville, Indiana, K-State) that are really, really good too, and I wouldn't be surprised to see any of them in San Antonio this year. Just thinking about Selection Sunday, filling out brackets, the CBS theme song, Gus Johnson screaming incoherently following a routine basket with 17 minutes still left in the game, buzzer beaters, 12 seeds upsetting 5 seeds....watch out, I think somebody just set the thermostat to "boner" in here.
I don't think that my excitement level for any sport wavers as much as it does with the NBA. Either I am really into it, or I can't stand watching it, and right now it is fucking ON. Gasol, Shaq, Kidd, all get shipped out west. Spurs, Suns, Lakers, Mavs, Jazz, Hornets, Rockets, Nuggest, Warriors, are you kidding me? The western conference playoffs are gonna be an absolute free-for-all like we've never seen before. 9 teams (Nine!!!) can win that conference.
The east is for the most part brutal, but Lebron is always fun to watch, Dwight Howard is just about at the same level of goofiness and excitability as Shaq was in his prime, and a Boston/Detroit east finals would be every bit as good as any series in the west (minus Suns/Lakers.) Damn those teams have a good rivalry going. Last night's game had a playoff atmosphere. Like I've said numerous times, if all NBA games had crowd and player intensity like that, I would love the NBA all the time, instead of just here and there. Unfortunately, a very small percentage of games have that feel. (Random note from that game: ever notice how when there's under 10 seconds left, home team down like 8 or 9, and they hit a three, but they're still down like 6 with 3 seconds left, a high-pitched shriek, as opposed to a cheer, goes up from the crowd? That's because the only people who cheer for those bullshit shots are the 13-year-old girls still in the crowd. Settle down, Suzy. Go home and study for your Life Science quiz, 3rd period will be here before you know it.)
All things considered, this spring and summer could well be the most exciting stretch of basketball of my life. Buckle up for a few months of fucking awesome basketball. Happy trading deadline day.
