March Happiness...

The NCAA has captured the March Madness idea and it has run with it. The basketball tournament is better known as March Madness than the NCAA basketball tournament. I, for one, am not mad when the games begin, I’m rather happy.

It traditionally starts out for me that first week in March with the State B tournament. So there I was last week, watching the action like many LRS fans both local and those making their homes in the Spokane area.

Personally, I take a couple of days off from work and take in the great games filled with young talent. There were a lot of glimpses of sportsmanship with foes helping each other off the court after a tussle for possession. Not every call is made, but it didn’t seem like fans were overly abusive toward the officials and when they were, it was probably deserved and didn’t last too long.

Of all the tournaments, the B tournament is probably the most civil. A lot of it has to do with the fact that a lot of these fans and players know their opponents through summer league, camps or playing each other three plus times in a season.

Every team arrives in Spokane thinking they can take home the first place trophy. The Morton–White Pass (MWP) Timberwolves put the Broncos in the consolation bracket Thursday afternoon. The sting of back-to-back losses in the last two 2B football championships was fresh in the T-Wolves memory bank. They would not let this one get away from them. The Broncos would rally in their next two games and take home fourth place.

In the 2B boys’ championship, the two best teams in the state both undefeated squared off last Saturday afternoon and the team with the most overall depth and talent would prevail. MWP was on a mission and with the exception of a late St. George’s rally, made the Dragons’ life miserable. The Dragons big three missed many of their patented shots and the three ball was mostly nonexistent as far as made threes were concerned.

MWP took out the frustrations of losing three straight State football championship games by taking down the St. George’s Dragons by three. This was the second time that two undefeated teams played for the B championship. The only other time was in 1966 and yes, I was at the Coliseum that night when Reardan defeated the Orting Cardinals also by three points.

On the girls’ side, Colfax continued their late season rally taking out the undefeated Toutle Lake Fighting Ducks. The Ducks overpowered Northwest Christian the night before, crushing the Crusaders dreams of playing for the championship.

One week after eliminating the LRS Broncos in a tight game, Colfax put it all together and put the clamps on the Ducks’ big scorers. Was Colfax the best team in Spokane? The Bulldogs were when they needed to be and just like the boys’ game the team with the most depth prevailed.

There is a lot to be learned from this outcome and that is winning takes a lot of hard work, determination, confidence and dedication. Take one piece of that puzzle away and your team is just another team and it doesn’t matter how much talent is on the court.

Colton dropped Pomeroy for the 1B boys’ crown by outhustling the Pirates for rebounds. Defensively the Wildcats made sure that Pomeroy would not get a lot of good shots and they didn’t. Colton beat the Pirates for the first time this season in the biggest game of the year.

Brother Larry and I didn’t stick around for the 1B girls’ final. We had seen enough basketball and I envisioned a blowout victory for the Colton girls’ and that is what would happen mostly in the second half. The Wildcats shut out the TO Nighthawks in the third quarter rolling to their sixth straight 1B title.

When I was a young teenager, it was always about this time that my dream of playing in the state tournament would recur. I would go down to the old shed and shoot some hoops, practice my free throws and work on a few moves. I also heard the voice of Dick Wright doing his play-by-play of a Bronco team that existed in my mind. We would always win, of course, and I would usually score about 20. That was about 12 more than my career average but hey, it was my dream.

Basketball is a great sport and the B tournament is still second to none even after all the changes that were made. This is the beginning of March happiness for me and I hope you feel the same way.