It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I don’t watch a lot of television during the day. I’m a big believer in the corrupting power of television to ruin our children’s attention spans while brainwashing them into wanting products that will further destroy their minds and their health. I watch Dora the Explorer with Abbie once a day, let her watch a Baby Einstein DVD a couple times a week, and maybe check the news during the day, but otherwise the television stays dark pretty much the entire day.

Unless some sort of sporting event is being televised, then I’m watching it while assuming Abbie is doing okay unless I hear sort of distress cry. I don’t watch just anything though; just college football, pro football, college basketball, and baseball games involving (1) the Chicago Cubs and (2) another team that will probably win. A few other events occasionally pique my interest; I watched the recent Winter Olympics on several occasions just long enough to remember that I already heard who won whatever event I was watching.

Thanks to football season overlapping with basketball season overlapping with baseball season overlapping with football season, I can spend most weeknights and all day on weekends playing with the kids in the living room while I watch a game. Weekdays I usually spend focused on the kids since almost no one schedules games during the day. Occasionally I get to see Cubs games during the day, and a handful of college football bowl games kickoff during the day, but otherwise I have to take the kids out to the park if I want to see the pampered and spoiled physically exerting themselves and getting far too worked up over trivial matters.

We’re in the middle of college basketball’s tournament season right now though, and for the past week I’ve enjoyed college basketball all day. I can turn on the television at 11am central and watch the day’s first quarterfinal games from out east, and feed the twins at night by the glow of the last semifinal games from out west. These aren’t just any college basketball games either; these are the last gasps many teams get before their seasons end, or worse yet, end in the NIT. Everybody but the most complacent is playing their hearts out to work their way into the NCAA tournament. I’ve watched Gonzaga play like the worst potential 1-seed in history. I’ve watched Syracuse hit a dramatic three-pointer to play their way into the tournament on one day, and then watched them do the same thing the next day to play their way into a decent seed. I’ve watched Michigan bumble their way out of the tournament. All this is enhanced by my team losing in the opening round of their conference tournament a week ago, effectively ending any personal stake I may have in the way things play out.

Next week is even better when the NCAA tournament starts. For two entire weekdays, I can watch games from morning until night, and everyone cares about these games; from the 1-seeds who are looking to build momentum, to the 16-seeds who are just happy to be there, to the gamblers who really need that 11-seed to pull through or they’ll only be able to afford ramen noodles until June. The best part is if the game I’m watching gets out of hand, there are usually three other games to watch instead, at least during the first round. As the tournament progresses, I can only track three games simultaneously, then two, and then I have to watch the only game that’s being played. After that, I have nothing to do during the day but watch the kids and wait for the Cubs to start losing again.