Next week cannot come any sooner.
Girlfriends wait with fear and trepidation while their boyfriends' hormones get revved up.
No, I'm not just talking about spring break, I'm talking about Championship Week on ESPN, of course.
It's the final week of college basketball before the NCAA Tournament. From March 10 to March 14, TV remotes be damned: College hoops will overrule all inconsequential movie award shows, reruns of Friends and reality TV in any form.
Folks, March Madness is upon us.
I'll admit, I never used to be a big fan of basketball, college or otherwise. Sure, I went to Pistons games and watched my home team clutch the 1989-1990 NBA titles. But the hardwood never really lured me in like the grass of other sports - until I came to MSU.
Not only did the electricity of the Izzone and the Breslin Center get me excited about being a Spartan, it also rekindled a flame in me that had been all but extinguished following the Bad Boys era. It got me excited about watching basketball again.
After the regular season comes to a close, spectators and TV viewers will be treated to the eclectic display of talent that is Championship Week. Nowhere in college sports do you find a more fervent fan base. Consider the 1999 and 2003 MSU riots, and you get the picture.
I'm particularly looking forward to this year's Championship Week, given the fact that the Spartans have been playing their hearts out and have tremendous potential. The fact that they'll only be playing in four games while 60 plus games air on the network through March 14 is beside the point.
With the way MSU has been playing the past few weeks, those four games are bound to be the most exciting games of all. Just think back to last week's Michigan-MSU game in Ann Arbor.
Down 12 points with 11:15 to go in the second half, juniors Kelvin Torbert and Alan Anderson, along with Shannon Brown and Jason Andreas, helped bring the Spartans to within four with just 2:19 left to play. Torbert, Anderson and Chris Hill used that momentum to rally the team to its 72-69 victory.
There's no better feeling than being able to rub it in Wolverines' faces when we win. And if MSU can play like that in the tournament, they're destined to go far.
Besides, MSU decimated Penn State in Saturday's 67-42 win, making the Spartans victorious in nine of their last 10 games. After the No. 1 team in the Big Ten battles Wisconsin on Tuesday, they will have a week off before The Big Ten Tournament begins March 11 in Indianapolis.
If there's a time to bleed green, that time is now. There's no longer room for skeptics or pessimists; we must band together to cheer on the Spartans.
The winners of each conference tournament get an automatic bid for the NCAA Tournament.
Next week, innumerable college students from around the country flock to tropical resorts to forget about homework and drink their way sober. I, on the other hand, will lead a pitiful but essential existence: Parked on my living room sofa, basking in the glory of all the basketball.
You know where I'll be.
Evan Rondeau is The State News sports administration reporter. He can be reached at rondeau1@msu.edu
