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For this sportsaholic, Spring Break was pure heaven. I managed to cram a whole semester's worth of sports action into one week. All told, I spent about 60 hours around sports. Not a bad week if I say so myself.
Saturday--After leaving Peoria at about 9 a.m., I arrive home near Philadelphia at 2 p.m. I catch the end of the Mets-Indians spring training game on TV and my week is underway.
That night I attend my annual Philadelphia Wings box lacrosse game. Box lacrosse is nothing like the field game. It's played on a hockey rink with five players per side. The action is non-stop, as is the contact.
Slashing, body-checking, fighting--it's all here, and for the most part, it's legal. Pretty much anything goes.
The best part is that these guys play for the love of the game. They hold down nine-to-five jobs in offices on Wall Street, and in law firms up and down the East Coast.
On the weekend, though, they suit up and earn about $500 a game. A mere pittance to what baseball and basketball players make. And to top it off, they have to pay for their own travel to and from games. That's dedication.
Sunday--I spend a few hours in front of the television set, flipping between the finals of the ACC and SEC tournaments, the Purdue-Michigan game and a Phillies spring training game. All that employs the better part of the day.
At night, it's back over to the Spectrum to take in the Flyers-Devils hockey game. Because of the lockout, it's my only chance to see the Flyers in person this year.
Before the game, I join a flock of people watching the announcement of the NCAA pairings on the press box TV. I see Bradley will have to settle for the NIT.
The game also is my first look at the best line in the NHL, the Flyers' "Legion of Doom," comprised of John LeClair, Eric Lindros and Mikael Renberg. They dominate in the Flyers 4-3 win.
Monday--The first thing I do is check the paper to see who BU will play in the NIT. I see the Braves have a home game against Eastern Michigan and the early line easily favors us.
I head over to the Flyers' practice rink to watch them work out, but only the players who didn't play the night before are practicing. Nonetheless, I hang around and chat with other diehard fans about the team. The consensus: Flyers win the Stanley Cup this year.
Tuesday--Back over to the rink where today the full Flyers' squad works out. A scrimmage livens things up for the 50 or so people in the stands.
Wednesday--After two relatively slow days, the action is beginning to heat up. I settle in to watch the Flyers and Rangers battle for first place at Madison Square Garden.
After the Flyers defeat the Rangers, it's time for first-round NIT games to get me in the mood for basketball marathons on Thursday and Friday.
Thursday--This is D-Day for me. To be back home in time for the opening tip-off of the NCAA Tournament, I am up early to go to the driving range to get my golf swing in shape.
Next up on the docket is upset No. 1 of the tournament--Manhattan knocks off Oklahoma. Following that game, CBS whips me back East for the St. Louis-Minnesota matchup. (What two midwest teams are doing playing each other in the East bracket baffles me.) It proves be the first of four overtime games in the first round of the tourney. I then watch the first of four Philly teams go down when Cincinnati beats Temple.
Then I start flipping. With the remote control in hand, I go back and forth between the Flyers-Senators game, Penn-Alabama game and CNN to see the score of the Bradley game. Flyers won, Penn lost, Bradley won in double overtime.
Then I catch Drexel's loss to Oklahoma State while flipping over to the Blues-Kings hockey game. At this point of sports saturation, the only thing I know is that the new Blues' uniforms are mighty ugly, and I don't pay much attention to the game.
Friday--This is the ultimate test of endurance.
I call the Bradley sports information office to get the inside story on last night's game and find out the Braves trailed by eight at one point in the first OT before coming back to win.
Now it's time for 13 hours of basketball. Well, I shouldn't say that. I didn't watch all 13 hours. I did catch a little of the Irish sportsfest on ESPN2 (it was St. Patrick's Day, after all).
After escaping rather unscathed Thursday, my tourney picks took a beating on Black Friday. I watched Southern Illinois lose (have to support those MVC teams) and then came the big shock. My pick for national champ lost when Michigan State fell to Weber State.
The night only got worse as I watched another of my Great 8 teams fall. Villanova lost in triple overtime to Old Dominion. (Remember when BU topped Old Dominion in an NIT game last year?) But there always is more basketball. I watched Georgetown vs. Xavier and then the Tulsa-Illinois game, which concluded at 1 a.m. Eastern time. Yes, that's right--13 hours of basketball.
Saturday--Nine more hours of college hoops action awaits in the second round of the tournament. Remote in hand, I take in three more games, followed by one last Flyers game. The eyes are starting to go, and if I hear Clark Kellogg use one more cliche, I think I'll die.
Sunday--A week of sports would be incomplete if I didn't watch one NBA game. I'll let you guess which one (hint: it wasn't the Sixers game). Time to flip for four more hours between the NBA, the U-Mass-Stanford game and the Phillies-Rangers matchup.
It took some doing, but I was able to put the remote down and come back to Peoria. I hope my week of sports indulgence will hold me over until May.