Best time of the year?

By BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

?Tis my favorite time of the year.

Well, maybe I better take a step back. Let?s call it one of my favorite times of the year.

Basketball tournament time always has been welcomed. Part of that, I think, is because generally when the basketball tournaments roll around, the weather moderates some. We?ve been ?wintering? for over three months, cabin fever is at its height and even temperatures above freezing are welcomed.

A second part of the love of tournaments is that teams are playing for something. That?s not to mean the regular season is just an exhibition exercise, but the enthusiasm and energy seemingly are at higher levels come tournament time.

Tournaments take me back to my days growing up in South Dakota. My alma mater won a state boys? basketball tournament when I was an eighth-grader. They won the first game in triple overtime and had a much easier time the final two games.

It was exciting and the seed was planted.

Memories still fresh from the days on the plains include watching the state tournaments as a grade schooler and junior high student after the supper dishes were cleared. It might have been black-and-white television, but it put me at center court.

At the time, South Dakota did not have high school girls? basketball. Boys? basketball consisted of two classifications ? Class A and Class B. The B tournament was the second weekend of March with the A tournament following the next weekend. Both were played in Sioux Falls, 70 miles from my hometown. In later years, Rapid City built a new arena and now the boys? and girls? state tournament rotate between the two ends of the state, i.e. if Sioux Falls hosts the A tournament, the B tournament is in Rapid City.

It?s been a while since those days in South Dakota, but tournaments have not lost their appeal. The emphasis may have changed. When my kids graduated from high school, the prep tournaments lost some of their appeal. Without anyone to watch, it isn?t the same.

So I moved on to the college game.

This year, with a number of Iowa men?s and women?s collegiate teams in the NCAA Tournament, there should be some enjoyable viewing.(I say that with some hesitation because depending on the team you follow, it also can be agonizing. Yes, I?m talking about the Iowa men?s basketball team).

It does make a difference, though, if the school you follow is in the tournament or a bowl game, for that matter. I?ve found that when the Hawks are playing in a bowl or the NCAA Tournament, I am much more interested in the event.

It?s not that I ban bowl or tourney watching if the Hawks aren?t involved, but I don?t plan my day around it, either.

Finally, maybe the tournament season is enjoyable because you are aware that spring and baseball are on the horizon. Those are thoughts that can melt any frost from the attitude.

MY COMMUTE TO AND from work takes me through the Iowa Wesleyan College campus on Broadway Street. There are generally students at the crosswalks waiting to cross the street. I have seen that most drivers stop and let the students cross. Not all drivers, but most.

During a Mt. Pleasant City Council meeting about a year ago, Councilwoman Deb Savage, who lives on Broadway Street, noted about a year ago that she was disappointed that motorists were not observing the law ? pedestrians have the right-of-way on crosswalks.

So, I started paying more attention. She had a point. I took it a step further, however, and observed how many pedestrians acknowledged a motorist stopping for them.

Now, this is highly unscientific but it has become a gender note. Over the last year of the pedestrians whom I have let cross, seven times as many males as females have acknowledged the gesture.

That doesn?t mean I am not going to break the law, but I will continue watching for the acknowledgement.