If You Don't Use it You'll Lose It: Represent Your Set...

Growing up in Connecticut, you come to hold on to what little sport there is in the state. Sitused between Boston and New York you are either a Red Sox or a Yankees fan (the Mets, who?); a Celtics or a Knicks fan. Ever since the Whalers were yanked away from us, and the only person with more fake crap in him than "Kraft" macaroni & cheese, Robert Kraft had a state on the edge of our seats at the hope of becoming home to the New England Patriots, only to find out we were but a pawn in his chess game, we have been professional "teamless". For goodness sakes, they even took away our CBA!

But one thing that has remained a constant is our love of University of Connecticut (UCONN) Basketball. Our Lady and Men Huskies reign supreme here as they should. Coaches Jim Calhoun and Geno Auriemma have built an empire, second to none. I am not going to get into a technical discussion about basketball, because frankly....I can't. I was a Cheerleader for goodness sakes (TFAD!) - INSERT SPIRIT FINGERS HERE!

USE IT MOMENT:
As the UCONN men started to open the country's eyes to how bad, (in the words of the great Run DMC, "not bad meaning bad, but bad meaning good"), they were, to finally clenching the 2011 National Championship, UCONN Alum banded together in bars, at homes and through social media - FaceBook and Twitter as ONE community! I couldn't tell you that it was one particular thing for me that made this season uber Exciting (yep, I said uber, what?!) Was it:

Watching my "brother-in-law" grow into his role as Assistant Coach? Sorry, I am biased, but I am so extremely proud of this man! I am going to brag...because I can! He is a fabulous man of GOD, husband, father, uncle and role model. We have watched him go from being a UCONN player to the CBA to the NBA to come back "home" as part of the Coaching team at UCONN. We are so proud of you! We went out after the parade and people asked Nemo what was his favorite part, he said it was "Seeing Uncle Kevin, Auntie Steph, Cheyanne and Taryn". He had no CLUE who the players were. He was so proud of his "Uncle"!
Watching the games play out and as they got through each level, shattering brackets all over the country hoping that this turned out to be a true "Cinderella" story?
Looking at the 7 Freshman "man up" and show the country that (in the words of the late great Aaliyah "age, ain't nuthin' but a number, throwin' down ain't nuthin' but a thang"....

This was a perfect time to come together as a UCONN family, and "Represent Your Set"

Me and Nemo Spedeemo, representin' our set!

LOSE IT MOMENT:
Maybe I'm biased because I am married to a certified parade chaser. This man is LATE for everything. I am SURE, he is going to be late for his own funeral, but when it comes to parades...we gotta get their early, make sure we get a good parking space AND a good viewing spot. (The sun has to hit just right, the crowd around us has to be right...it's serious biz, but I digress and this is DEFINITELY a TFAD!)

But there is NO REASON, that everyone who has a degree from UCONN, who patronized any bar to watch a UCONN game, or FB'd, Tweeted, talked at a water cooler or for that matter LIVED in CT should not have been there. Remember what I said above, these are kids! Just last year, 1/2 of them were at prom! As we bring our kids from here to there, from one activity to another, AAU, Premier Soccer, Dance, Voice Lessons, etx. we are doing this because we love our kids and we support them. Let's not forget, that MOST of these kids are far away from their homes (from as close as Mansfield to as far away as Germany and Nigeria), WE are that village that is helping to raise them.

For one hour out of your day, we owed it to them. Soooo, the next time, BECAUSE BELIEVE, ME/YOU, THERE WILL BE A NEXT TIME, make sure that you are acting a complete fool, cheering for OUR kids, like I did! LOSE YOUR MIND!