A Change of Heart

I spent the first half of this day in a really bad mood. 

I was heartbroken, disappointed, and very, very angry because my Wildcats weren’t going to the NCAA tournament. It’s the first time in eighteen years! I raged. Back in the good old days, when I was in college, we were winning national championships! Tony Delk was kicking ass, then asking for my friends’ phone numbers. As I made a six-hour roadtrip through the most rural parts of Kentucky, often without the luxury of cell or radio signal, I became more and more flustered. I rattled off statistics.  I thought of the “golden era”.  I cursed that damnable “other” school who pulled off a one-seed. I was nauseated and fighting back tears.

Then, mercifully, I was able to catch a quick look at my mobile Facebook.  A lady from my hometown – a family friend whose son plays for UK—had her status set to a cheery, supportive message about a good NIT draw, and how she loves her baby. With smiley faces and exclamation points, no less. I have never been more embarrassed at my own petulance and self-absorption.  The realization hit me like a ton of bricks: These are kids. Kids like my little brother who is en route to Spring Break.  Kids who are working their butts off at what amounts to a physical-labor job while getting an education. When I was their age, I was juggling school with the oh-so-taxing demands of boyfriends and sorority meetings. My successes and failures were neither nationally televised nor captured forever on YouTube. How would I feel if every mistake I made was parsed and re-hashed by hundreds of thousands of complete strangers?

So, Big Blue Friends, I ask you all to remember that every kid on that team is someone’s baby. Someone’s grandson. Someone’s boyfriend.  Thirty years from now, they will be telling their kids about how it felt to play a big game, just like my own daddy did this weekend when he and I were talking about the crazy schedule Syracuse had faced, and he recounted a rough three-overtime game his own college team once played. The coaching staff and other members of the Athletic Department are well-compensated individuals who are accountable for their own professional successes and failures. The players are kids who have provided us with countless hours of entertainment.  They deserve our respect and loyalty and support. In all their post-season play.

Go Big Blue!!!