One never knows...do one?

I have no idea where the phrase in my title originated, but it is one that my mom and I say quite often. Whoever starts it, the other will finish it, followed by smiles from both of us!!

Anyway... if this statement was ever 100% right on, it would be 'hands up!' to describe the yearly competition known as March Madness...The NCAA basketball tournament. There are millions who watch it for the basketball.

There are at least that many who are in it for 'The Brackets', the chance to predict the most correct 'number of outcomes' as these 64 teams vie to be the # 1 college team in the country...and this year is already the craziest year that I can remember in a long, long time. You just never know! So routinely 'Unpredictable! [ Isn't that an oxymoron?] In any given match up, either team has the potential to advance. This year the #1 team in the nation [Kansas] was eliminated in the second round! Unbelievable! A 'boatload of brackets' bit the dust because it was thought that Kansas would win the title...and they're out!! It is as joyous for the winning team as it is heartbreaking for the losing team. And exciting to watch all of it, or the last two minutes of every game!. It has the power to hold its many viewers as a 'captive audience'.

It is the highly anticipated span of time and emotion that occurs every March that defies the odds...hence...The Madness! In the end, you can sum it up in Flo's favorite phrase :

One never knows...[ Did you say, "Do one?]

Syra'Cuse' shuts Nova down!

Syracuse Basketball at its finest!! A home game and in front of a record -breaking number of orange clad fans...the now #1 team brought down the house!!! It was electrifying and looked like a whole lot of fun to be there.

Wahoo!! Woot!! Huzzah!! Tada!!

It's a surprise!

The hockey season is over for this year, as the Penguins won The Stanley Cup last night. Hockey fans [my son included] are a special breed of people. And I was reminded of his father and what a huge hockey fan he was. So, on a Friday night I picked him up from work and said that we were going on a surprise trip. He had no idea that I had gotten tickets for The Rangers in Madison Square Garden. Half of the fun was watching him realize where we were going. And it was a great time, too. Likewise, when my son was about 10 years old, there was another surprise trip that was quite memorable.

Good friends, whose two kids were Jer's best friends, and my son and I got into the minivan and started driving out of town without telling the 3 kids where we were going. We told them it was a surprise, and all the way there it was a guessing game of excitement. We had gotten tickets to see David Copperfield and it was around the time when he made the motorcycle he rode onto the stage ...disappear!! It was so worth the trip watching their faces light up when they saw the marquis: "David Copperfield Tonight!! " It was a terrific show... 'How did he do that?' and Jer got his Copperfield poster signed by the Master of Illusion himself!!
Surprises [good ones] can be great fun. Have you had a similar experience...whether you were the surpriser or the surprised?

Speed it up!!

I've had a request from my friend, Steve, about my blog:

"So, when are you going to tell the story about the ski lift?"

To get to Steve's reference, I should tell about the two ski resort experiences prior to his favorite ski lift memory.

#1: When I was in my early 20's, a friend of my brother's was going skiing for the day and asked me to join him.

"I have never been skiing, and don't have any of the equipment/gear to go with you."

"No problem. You can rent all of the ski stuff, and it's easy to learn."

What the heck! [I thought] We went to the mountain[!!], rented the equipment, and bought a one day lift pass. As we are in motion on the way up, I asked, "When the lift stops, which way are we turning?"

"The lift doesn't stop; you ski off of it."

Well, of course you do...what was I thinking? Just because I had never skied didn't mean that disaster was looming at the top of the hill! [How stupid was I!!!]

It took me a while [3 hours] to get down the hill. I asked to ski at my own pace...learn how to stop without just sitting down, and wanted to be miserable all by myself. It was a very frustrating experience for half of the day, and the other half was better. I got the hang of it enough to enjoy the sport. But I think I vowed not to go again.

#2: I think that it was my last year in college that about 5 of my friends wanted to go to Hunter Mountain for the weekend. If I didn't want to ski, I could hang out in the ski lodge, meet people, etc. There were many activities going on that weekend. I had one problem to fix before going. Since I had just finished a course of antibiotics, I managed to get a yeast infection. In the 70's, you couldn't buy the over the counter appropriate medicine, but somehow I managed to get a Friday afternoon doctor appointment along with a prescription to make things right. As my friends picked me up, I told them that I needed to have this prescription filled to take with me.

Then I heard,"Let's get on the road and get the prescription filled when we get there." OK.

Can you guess what's coming next?? There was no drug store in Hunter Mountain.

What could possibly make things worse??...a blizzard so encompassing that we were snowed in the cabin and could not make our way anywhere! for anything! skiing, food, NOTHING !
And let me add that each bed was allotted one blanket. So, there I was...snowed into a cabin with 5 of my friends...freezing...with no where to go ...and the added joy of an untreated yeast infection! Probably this experience was the one where I learned to never, ever, ask the question, "What else could happen?" or "What could be worse than this?"

#3: ok...first time, I skied a bit, second time...snowed in and not able to even go to the ski lodge if I even wanted to ski. The third time...was at a ski/golf resort depending upon the season. About twenty of my fellow school colleagues were at 'Curriculum Camp' in the first week of July.

From Sunday at 4 PM until Friday at 4 PM, it was an intense educational experience that was very scheduled. As a matter of fact, we had a couple of hours on Wednesday afternoon that was our only free time. You could go golfing [at this resort], shopping, whatever...and they fired up the chairlift for rides for anyone who wanted to go. The non golfers decided to go for a ride, and two by two, we got on the chairlift with some empty seats between us, probably to even things out I guess. It started out just fine. It was beautiful scenery, a beautiful day, and as we went up and then back down, we got to smile and wave to our friends. Pam and I [going up] shouted out to Steve and Dean [coming down] and Diane was right behind us. Kind of fun. And then, all of a sudden, the speed of the chairlift was noticeably faster. We were zipping along at a record pace and so was my heart rate! Evidently, Steve had given the 'Wizard of Oz' [the man behind the control window] the hand signal to...S P E E D I T U P ! And he did. And I was in altered states of fear! What, oh what, could possibly make this situation worse?? I did not voice that question, but we found out anyway. Suddenly, in the middle of the ascent to the top...the entire chairlift came to a sudden stop. Well, not exactly! You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that the chairs would swing in a 'back and forth...back and forth...' motion. Holy ****!

And then there was prayer on the mountain as my "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph " rang out and my eyes closed [to block out the scary sight of swaying mid-air].

I had exceeded my capacity for fun.

And Pam stood up at my retirement dinner and told everyone, "I didn't realize how religious Mare was until curriculum camp when her 'Jesus, Mary, and Joseph' echoed back from the mountainside."

And no, there will be no more ski lifts or skiing in my future.

So, there you have it. There were tears of laughter rolling down Steve's face. Uncontrollable laughter. Which, by the way, is one of my favorite things....uncontrollable laughter.

It doesn't get any better than that.

Let the games begin!

Welcome to March Madness and the college basketball games that will prevail for several weeks. The dentist and I were chatting about it and he told me that he, too, loves to watch the drama. I have great memories of my son[ about 10 years old and then annually thereafter] taping the schedule to the living room wall. There are teams that have made the cut to be among the 64 teams for the first time. There has already been a first round upset! My thoughts: Go Syracuse!

And for the people who don't get into the NCAA Tournament, here are a couple of clip art funnies...well, I think so anyway!

Six overtimes!!

Six....that's right...6 overtimes...and a WIN!!!!

In the Big East Tournament last night/ this morning, Syracuse went from having a 3 point buzzer beater with 1.1 seconds on the clock...OVERTURNED...to sweating through 6 overtimes, guys fouling out, guys coming off of the bench with very limited experience[21 min]...until 1:30 in the morning when Syracuse was able to win 127-117. I don't know how they managed to come out in Overtime #6 and score enough to win by 10. But don't let that fool you. It was the best, most unbelievable live basketball entertainment that I have ever seen!

My son and I were texting back and forth through all of the overtimes. And Flo woke up at about 1AM and thought I had fallen asleep with the television on. When I told her,

"You're NOT going to believe it, but the Syracuse/ U Conn game is in its 5th overtime!!"

She was astounded, and we talked and laughed until the game was finally over...both of us glad that we didn't have to work in the morning! And feeling good that we were a part of that historic game.