Hail to The Victors...

Someone is just a little excited about tonight's National Championship game.  We haven't discussed the notion that it's entirely possible that Michigan doesn't win...I mean, Louisville is a pretty amazing basketball team.  No matter.  Zo will be asleep by the time we hear the first notes of "One Shining Moment."  We're kinda desperate around here to be celebrating a Michigan victory at night's end, but we're ridiculously happy to just have the chance to watch this basketball team do something so special.

I've never sat in the crowd and watched a potential National Champion grow and develop.  We've never had the chance.  I was a beat behind the Fab Five at Michigan.  Jalen and Chris had already left for the NBA, and I watched the '89 team rise to the illustrious occasion in my Mom's living room (there's still a fist print in the ceiling where I jumped high and accidentally slammed a clenched fist into the soft ceiling tile).  We're reluctant to even venture a hopeful word out loud around here, but our fingers are crossed in complicated knots as we oh-so painfully wait for 9:23pm to arrive.

Those who stay will be champions, Bo said, but he might never have imagined that meaning sitting high in Crisler Arena watching Brian Ellerbe and Tommy Amaker teams dismantle our capacity for hope, but in John Beilein we trust and tonight, oh if tonight could just be the night, my head and heart would be more crowded than I can remember.

Hail to the Victors Valiant...to those conquering heroes I grew up watching, and hopefully to these young men trying to instill hope from two decades of frustration.

Go Blue!