An ending to a personal season

The 2012-2013 College Basketball season has been over for a month or so now. It was the most active season I have had as a fan, and I wanted to capture my feelings. Much as teams have been known to run out of gas in March or otherwise see their season end too soon, I as a #TMM9 member of @hoppingcats ran out of gas in March as well. Life intruded, I didn't manage my vacation bank very well, and I couldn't dig down deep at crunch time. Since the writing competition ended shortly after the Final Four, I write this ending on my own blog for no points whatsoever, but just to reflect on my season of traveling and writing about mid-major basketball, such as it was. I can't begin to touch this guy (who I ran into a handful of times this year, with the dawning realization that my team would gain no points on his from the game I was attending), but I had fun all the same.

I didn't have the wherewithal to go to that many games, mostly because of my full-time job. As much as I envy the life of Kyle (and marvel at the guy I mentioned above), I'm not ready to retire just yet. My participation was as limited as my free time was (flying was an alternative that I didn't fully explore because I felt it would be too expensive).

Commitment, not to mention zeal that borders on obsession, tends to bring pain and makes one vulnerable to the harshness of the real world. Like an athlete who is smooth as silk one game and writhing in agony the next, cruel chaos has been known to intrude, and then whatever weaknesses we have are exploited. Try as they might, my Valpo Crusaders could not grow extra bulk and inches in the span of a few days in order to match up with the Mighty Spartans of Michigan State. So they had to adapt, and for whatever reason they couldn't. Had they found a way, I would have been there on Saturday to not only write about Valpo-Memphis but also VCU-Michigan, and then who knows, maybe Valpo-Duke in Indianapolis? That's the kind of dreaming that I imagine Will Bogan, Ryan Broekhoff, Erik Buggs, and company allowed themselves to engage in.

Likewise, because I could not magically enlarge my vacation bank at The Boeing Company from 2 hours to 16, much less work 12 hour days around outside commitments, nor will my almost-55-year-old body to withstand even more stress and sleep deprivation, I had to wimp out on my plans to see my team Dance and write for my other team.

So, my 2013 season ended too soon. I couldn’t even make it across Missouri to Kansas City to attend that collection of 6 games. My season consists of 21 recaps and one challenge assignment. It seemed like more than that, but the website doesn't lie. Almost, but not quite the size of a Division I College Basketball regular season.

I divided my season between Valpo games and St. Louis games, the former because of personal allegiance (which was tested a couple of times), the latter because of proximity. Oh, there was that one trip where I stopped off at Hinkle to see the Billikens take on the Bulldogs again, then headed up to Valpo for the bracketbuster, then zagged over to Macomb to see Cleveland State take on Western Illinois. What mostly dominated my travels this year was nostalgia for a conference Valpo used to play in, personal investment in the conference they play in now, and the excitement of teams visiting St. Louis who had captured my imagination in recent years.

As I look back on it, there wasn't a lot of new exploration. I didn't venture into unknown territory. The only time I visited new venues was when Valpo was playing there. I always had to have a prior connection - an excuse to go to the game. The one time I was ready and willing to answer the call, I was unable to. Since warp drive has not yet been invented, I could not attend the Valpo bracketbuster game and avail myself of my last opportunity to see Nate Wolters in person (going up against Isaiah Canaan no less) because 5 hours is nowhere near enough time to go from Valparaiso, Indiana to Murray, Kentucky. It just wasn’t meant to be, and though I did get to see Canaan play, I will regret never finding a way to go see Wolters.

Wichita State lost in excruciating fashion, as it always seems to be predestined for mid-majors (not named Butler) to lose. Baseball season had already begun, but as I tweeted that Saturday night, "Sorry, baseball, you can take a hike for tonight. GO SHOCKERS!" Alas, they faltered and fell short, thus reaching the point every year where I dismiss basketball until November. I don't really do any sport year round. My calendar is neatly split into two halves. It is baseball season now.

Then again, conference realignment encroaches ever closer to the Horizon League. Furthermore, as I finish this off, Oakland has officially joined the Horizon League, my White Sox are miserable so far, and I can’t help looking forward to the renewal of an old conference rivalry that I thoroughly enjoyed. For the first time in several years, I’m more excited in May about College Basketball than I am about Major League Baseball.