March Madness!

I love March Madness.  Absolutely love it.  My mom started it.  She became a fan of the Arizona Wildcats and Lute Olsen and I followed.  Ever since then, I've looked forward to this time of year and all the excitement.  This year our beloved Belmont Bruins got an 11 seed!!  And they drew the Arizona Wildcats.

Some of you may be confused.  I have a few friends that have said, "wait, I thought you were from Texas?" and so now I'll give you a small history lesson.

Meet my family.

We are all originally from Arizona.  My brothers and I were born and raised in the Phoenix area.  When Robbie was about 6, we moved to a small town in Southeast Arizona named Elfrida. (It's by Tombstone and yes, that is a real town)  That's where I went to school, K-12.  There were about 8 of us that started Kindergarten and finished High School together.  There were about 60 in my graduating class. 

Anyway, I'm a native Arizonan.  I miss the sunsets, the mountains, and especially the weather.  Then I went to college in Texas, just like my older brother, and my parents then moved to Texas and it has been home ever since.  I love Texas, too.  A lot.  Home, for me, is where the heart is and my family (heart) is all in Texas, so it is why people are confused as to where I'm from.

But back to Arizona and your history lesson.  (You'll also be getting the history of my awful hair and lanky stages of my life)  So I grew up in Arizona and the closest big city (when I say big city, I mean airport and mall) was Tucson where the University of Arizona was located.  Growing up and doing 4-H and FFA, we were at the University all the time for things at the Agriculture Department and we would also do things in High School in the music department.  The University did a good job working with it's local community.  If I wasn't into sports and didn't want to pursue that, I think that UofA would have been a good school for me.

Growing up, we did the horse thing. (and bowl cuts apparently)

This horse died Christmas morning.  Robbie was tore up and I just asked when we'd be getting another. 

And we did the pig thing.

And my favorite...we did the cow thing.  (Let's ignore my glasses, purple pants, and bandana bow tie and focus on the cows.)

I get tickled looking at these pictures.  I have to tell you about these two mean cows.  They were the first cows my brother and I halter broke and showed.  They were from the same sire (daddy) and so we named them June and Brenda after my dad's two beautiful sisters.  Ol' Brenda, my brother's heifer, was a burro.  She was so tall and stubborn.  I remember dad trying to teach her to walk on a lead by hooking her up to the tractor and instead of walking behind the tractor, she planted her feet and it looked like she was water skiing.  June, my heifer, was just flat out mean.  My dad might even use a harsher word because she had it out for him.  She let me lay all over her, brush her, feed her grain, rub her back....but when my dad would come around her, she would hold her head up and blow snot at him.  He was going to show her one day and he tied her to a pole with a long lead and said, "Alright sis.  You just lead her around and as soon and she bolts, you let go and she'll hit the end of that lead and it will whip her around.  It will show her not to run off anymore."  So I obeyed my dad and sure enough she took off and hit the end of the rope and it spun her around.  My dad smiled because this was the trick.  He was going to teach her!!!  Well, with no give in the rope, she took off in my dad's direction and clothes lined him and sent him flying in the air!  His glasses flew off and everything.  I helped him up and we found his glasses and we put her away.  That was enough training for that particular day.  With June,  I was more of an anchor to her kite.  We would pull up to a livestock show and it would take 5 men to get that hot headed heifer just from the trailer to her spot in the barn.  She'd kick at people, charge at people, and just put on a show.  She drug Mr. Wade, the biggest and strongest man, right down a whole row of hedges.  It was like a cartoon.  He was at the end of her halter rope and you could see those hedges bobbing as he went right through them.  I didn't win many ribbons with her.  Mostly because we couldn't get her in the show ring.  Once in a while I would get a sympathy ribbon.  I cried a lot.  But when you got that mean ol' cow back home to where she was comfortable, she was the sweetest pet. 

I LOVED the cows the most.  Seriously, I love cows.  And bangs.

So every spring break, we would be showing our heifers at the Southwest Arizona International Livestock Association (SAILA) in Tucson.  I remember it like it was yesterday.  It was 1997 and Arizona was making a run in the tournament.  They stunned #1 Kansas and got into the Elite Eight, slipped passed Providence, and beat #1 seed North Carolina to earn a spot in the National Championship.  Dad bought mom a small black and white television with rabbit ears at an auction and he brought the television that year and hooked up there in the barn and we would all sit around it and watch the excitement.  And maybe it was extra exciting because we were right there in Tucson when all of this was happening.  But good ol' Lute Olsen (the silver fox) and his perfect full head of hair lead the great Mike Bibby and Miles Simon to win the national championship against Kentucky.  My favorite moment was when player Bennett Davison ran up to Lute Olsen and gave him a big hug, and then took his hands and ruffled Lute's perfect head of hair.  Something we all wish we could have done at that moment.  It was wonderful.

But then Lute lost his wife, Bobbi, in 2001 to her battle with cancer and retired in 2008.  It just hasn't been the same since he's left.  I'm still a fan.  I always cheer for them in Road to the Final Four, but this year it's a little different.  You see, I met this guy.

There he is, putting the hurt on Lipscomb.

 And I've gotten to know a new coach that I respect.

Steve, Adam, and Coach Byrd

And I've watched Adam pour so much love and hardwork into this Belmont program.  I've also watched this program grow into a bigger facility and move into a bigger conference.  I've also watched this program enter into this tournament and lose by a lot and lose by a little.  This program is just like my home.  Home is where the heart is.  And my heart is with Belmont.  It's our turn and I hope this is the year!

Let's go Bruins!

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