Today marks the true beginning of a special time of the year, those weeks when we cheer for David to pickup his sling to face off against Goliath; when we pull for “Cinderella” to make it to the ball.

That is what the NCAA tournament — affectionately known as March Madness — is all about. But before you go thinking you stumbled into the sports pages, let me assure you this isn’t just about the games.

Admittedly, I’m a diehard basketball fan. It is almost impossible to grow up in the state of Kentucky and be any other way. Maybe it is because we don’t have any professional teams (And I mean none. In any sport.) or maybe it is because much of the Commonwealth is rural and impoverished, but basketball is the state’s pastime. Specifically that means cheering on the University of Kentucky Wildcats.

Right now everyone in the Bluegrass State is on edge as the team is chasing history, just six wins from a perfect 40-0 season. Regardless of that outcome, I truly hope the casual viewer tunes in to see the stories behind the games.

There are many elements of March Madness that are far more about the triumph of the human spirit than they are about who puts the ball in the hoop the most. Everyone can decide for his or herself which stories resonate most.

Maybe it is the player who struggles with losing his mom to cancer toward the end of the season and then hits the game-winning shot in the biggest contest of his career, convinced that he had an angel looking over his shoulder.

Or maybe it is the team made up almost entirely of players who were told they were not good enough to compete at the highest levels of Division 1 basketball but persevered and found a way to knock off one of the blue bloods of the sport. Butler, Valparaiso and North Dakota State have filled this role in recent years and are looking to do so again.

Perhaps it will be the stories of the players who grew up in the worst parts of our worst cities, dodging bullets on the way to school and avoiding gangs while using the basketball court as a sanctuary.

You will see fifth-year seniors who practically will their teams to win, trying to fight off the end of their college careers for at least one more game. Your heartstrings will be tugged on by players who were homeless, bouncing around from home to home before using basketball as the platform to better themselves and get a college degree.

All these stories and more will be played out over the next few weeks with the basketball court as the stage but with life as the backdrop. Whether you are a hoops fan or not, this is what I call must-see TV and far more compelling than almost anything else you will see on television now.

 

Michael Caldwell is the publisher of Leader Publications LLC. He can be reached at (269) 687-7700 or by email at mike.caldwell@leaderpub.com.