March Madness

Today is March 11th. It's hard to believe I haven't written anything about basketball yet! Well, the wait is over. This is my favorite time of year, after all! I just saw West Virginia hit a last-second, off-balance 3-pointer to beat Cincinnati, and I could hardly contain myself!

Part of me wants to get into the real nitty-gritty stuff here as it relates to the NCAA tournament and make predictions for Selection Sunday, but I will resist the temptation. Instead, I simply want to highlight one of the most thrilling aspects of the college basketball year-end tournaments: the upset.

I think just about everybody loves a good Cinderella or underdog story. We love to root for the little guy against the powerhouse. We want David to fell Goliath (unless you are a Kentucky fan like me, then your team is the Goliath). But, if your team isn't playing, most of us want to see an upset, and there have been plenty of them so far in the various conference tournaments - Syracuse, Villanova and Pittsburgh all losing today in the Big East are probably the most glaring examples. And we especially love to see it in the NCAA tournament. When a double-digit seed beats a top-five seed, there is not much in all of sports that is more exciting. I remember #12 Western Kentucky beating #5 Illinois last year and #13 Cleveland State defeating #4 Wake Forest. And then two years ago when Davidson made it to the Elite 8 and gave Kansas (the eventual national champs) the best game of the tournament with a narrow two point loss. How can you not love an upset story?!

In high school and college, one of my favorite bands was the Christian rock group Audio Adrenaline. I always loved the song "Underdog" from their album of the same name. In the song, there is a little part where the following words are spoken:

Underdog. I wince everytime I say the word.

Especially in connection with Jesus.

Yet, as I read the birth stories about Jesus,

I cannot help but conclude that

Although the world may be tilted towards the rich and powerful,

God Hallelujah, in his mercy, is tilted towards the underdog!

There are certainly times when I feel like an underdog, like the world is out to get me, like the cards are stacked against me, like I'm facing an obstacle too big to overcome. Maybe you feel that way too sometimes. If so, I hope you can take heart in knowing that God is rooting for you!