 02/23/2026
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE –
Old timers will remember singer Andy Williams
and his famous Christmas song “It's the Most Wonderful Time
of the Year.”
ABV begs
to differ.
Today
begins the best time of the year when it comes to high school
sports, specifically boy's basketball.
The state
basketball tournament.
Even
though there was one game played on Saturday, everyone else
gets started either Monday or Wednesday.
It's
Beethoven's Fifth, it's the Mona Lisa, it's Citizen Kane.
It's
like the Tina Turner song; it's “Simply the Best.
The quest,
the journey, reaching for the brass ring.
All of
the games played, the practices held, the hard work over the
summer, all culminate into the best three weeks of the calendar
year.
Regional's,
sectional's, super-sectional's and then the state finals.
It's
the ultimate goal.
In the
next three weeks the good teams that have gathered all of the
accolades will feel the added pressure and the teams not expected
to last long will have nothing to lose.
The state
tournament, known to the world as March Madness, begins for
nearly all of the members of the Illinois High School Association.
As history
has shown us, no one is a lock to get to the state finals.
NO ONE.
Many
hearts will be broken in the next three weeks.
All it
takes is one off night, one bad game, one nervous mistake and
the dream of reaching the Final Four will be gone in a fleeting
moment in time.
“I
close my eyes, only for a moment and the moment's gone.”
The line
from the Kansas song “Dust in the Wind” fits this
tournament to a tee.
There
will be bus rides home with joy or sadness; success or failure.
Fanatics
in the stands hanging on every play, every blown whistle, every
tick of the clock.
It's
the essence of sports, it's what makes it so special.
The best
team doesn't always win, but the team that plays the best on
the given night will.
I will
borrow a phrase from my youth when watching ABC's Wide World
of Sports.
“The
thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.”
It's
why the people gather to watch the games, listen to the radio,
view online or watch websites like mine for scores and updates.
It's
part of our fabric.
It's
the sport that I fell in love with as a child watching the broadcasts
of the state finals.
If you
were lucky in grade school, the teacher would wheel in the old
black and white TV into the room, fitted with a rabbit ear antenna,
to pick up the local station who would drop all other programming
to bring high school basketball to the masses around the state.
In sixth
grade I watched Ridgway and Brent Browning beat Petersburg PORTA
in a Friday afternoon quarterfinal.
It was
March of 1973.
As an
seventh grader I got to watch a game that pitted eventual Class
A state champion Lawrenceville and Cerro Gordo.
The contest
was a classic that went to double-overtime with the Indians
coming out on top.
This
was March of 1974.
The state
basketball tournament was Must See TV way before Seinfeld and
the Thursday night NBC lineup.
Trying
to tell young people about how big the IHSA basketball tournament
used to be is like trying to explain how important The Beatles
were to the world of music.
No matter
what I say, unless you were there to experience it, you will
never quite understand.
Although
going to four classes took some of the bloom off of the rose,
it is still a special time for all of the players participating
and the media covering it.
It's
a membership that I'm proud of.
As for
the format of the tournament, four teams in each of the four
classes will reach the State Farm Center and there will be at
least 700 other teams that wished they had.
Each
of the players, coaches, cheerleaders, parents, and fans of
the teams and this sport itself, will never forget the memories
that will be made in the next 21-days.
So best
of luck to everyone playing this week.
My advice
it to bring some tissue with you, either for wiping away tears
of joy or tears of sorrow.
Let the
Madness begin. |
