More Fun Than Basketball

March Madness = basketball. All over the country, tournaments are being held. There are tournaments for high school boys and girls. Every college and university team will play their hearts out to advance and win a trophy. Then there are the professional teams with their championship tournaments as well. This is serious business.

I am particularly pleased about the advances that have come about in girls’ and women’s basketball. (You’re wondering how this is going to link to quilting, aren’t you?) I am going to date myself and tell you how we played basketball when I was in high school. We had to get decked out in the ugliest blue gym suits you have ever laid eyes on.  The outfit was essentially a button-down blouse with a short skirt attached that came midway to our knees. Then you had to pull on a pair of matching shorts that had an elasticized waist and legs. It was like wearing two pairs of panties at once. You will have to imagine the outfit shown on the right as being navy blue.

Because everyone was wearing the same blue gym suit, half the players had to wear a one-size-fits-all (right!) red shirt that went over the blouse part of the suit.  It was the only way we had to differentiate one team from the other.

Now don’t laugh, but we, the female of the species, were considered delicate. We were too delicate to run up and down the whole court, dribbling a basketball all the way and being expected to score as well. We were confined to playing half-court. Once one reached the centerline marked midway between the baskets, the ball had to be passed to a teammate who was only allowed to play on the other side of the line. To be truthful about the situation, I have forgotten exactly how that was delineated. I do know it had much to do with whether one played offense or defense.

I also know that playing half-court basketball left much to be desired in my eyes and took the fun out of playing. If one is competitive at all, not being allowed to score points for one’s team is disappointing. So I am particularly pleased to see women and girls being taken seriously as competitors and being allowed full run of the court.

And now guess what has happened to the month of March! It’s not just for basketball anymore! March has been designated National Quilting Month. Not just one day, mind you, but the whole month!

I’m not sure what I will do to celebrate this event. Maybe I can concentrate on getting some of my projects done that I keep putting off. Perhaps I should start something new. I know what would really be fun! I should round up a bunch of friends and go fabric shopping. Oh, I know, I could plan a trip to a museum hosting a quilt display. No, no, wait, maybe I should sew with friends. Or, or, oh, the possibilities are endless.

Decisions, decisions, what to do? Maybe I should plan on doing all of those things. After all, I have a whole month!