I Am a Spartan

It’s really not a good time to live in Michigan.

Our unemployment rate was 12 percent in February. It’s the highest in the country.

You can’t drive down a street without seeing at least one foreclosed home with that telltale orange sticker across the front lock.

There are empty stores and Going out of Business sales everywhere.

People can’t move out of here fast enough.

To add insult to injury we got socked by a nasty spring snow storm last night.

But Saturday night something really wonderful happened.

Michigan State beat U Conn to win a place in the final game of the NCAA Basketball tournament tonight. The cherry on the top? They’ll play in front of a home crowd at Ford Field in Detroit.

You could almost feel the hopefulness as Michiganders clung to their TV’s, holding their breath, and hear the collective sigh of relief that accompanied the cheers at the final buzzer.

Finally some good news for once.

If there was ever a year they needed to win it was this one.

I’m not normally a Spartan fan. But even I was on pins and needles. Not able to watch at the game, I couldn’t resist checking the score every five minutes on my cell phone.

I’m a Hoosier, raised in Indiana where basketball is a religion and Bobbie Knight a god. There’s just something about basketball. It has the power to unite and bring out emotion like no other sport.

Maybe it’s the intimacy of the crowd huddled together around the 94 x 50 ft.  floor in a indoor arena.

Maybe it’s because basketball is a game purely invented in America.

Maybe it’s because basketball is accessible to all organizations, big and small. All it takes to win are six good players with a lot of heart.

Maybe it’s because there is perhaps no other sport where the Any Given Sunday rule rings more true. The underdog often does prevail.

Today in Michigan we are all Spartans. Tonight we will all be holding our breath again.

Go State!