Explaining Jason’s Sports Allegiances

Explaining Jason’s Sports Allegiances
A Weekly Eckstra Column

Those of you who know me well know that I am a sports fanatic. I love following so many sports, listening to sports talk radio, playing fantasy football – the list could go on and on. The upcoming NCAA men’s basketball tournament makes March one of my favorite times of the year. Many friends love to poke fun at me over the teams I cheer for and wonder if there is a method for my madness.

To be fair – my odd rooting pattern only applies to college basketball. I am fairly traditional for most sports, cheering mostly for St. Louis-based teams for baseball, the NFL, and the NHL. After living in Milwaukee for nine years, I also tend to cheer for the Packers, Brewers, and Bucks, but not when they are playing for my beloved Cardinals and Rams.

I must admit that I do cheer for a large number of college basketball teams. Part of it has to do with my occupation – not many people work at organizations that also host NCAA Division 1 teams. Imagine how it would feel if your employer had a major basketball program playing on television. (This week we have Wells Fargo taking on SSM Healthcare with the winner facing the winner of the Enterprise-Boeing matchup.) I have been fortunate to attend and work at institutions that have had basketball success during my time there: Saint Louis University, Oklahoma State University, Marquette University, and now the University of Dayton. How do I decide who to cheer for, especially when they play each other? For the most part I adopt a “love the one you’re with” philosophy. In order of preference, I cheer for:

1. Dayton (great young team and hey, they pay the bills)
2. Marquette (worked there for nine years and taught most of the players)
3. Oklahoma State (went to graduate school there)
4. Saint Louis (was an undergrad there)
5. Missouri (grew up in St. Louis with many fans of Mizzou)

I’m thrilled that all but SLU made the tournament. While there are many tournament possibilities, it is likely that Marquette and Missouri will play each other in the second round. I’ll be cheering for Marquette – we’ll see who my bracket predicts as the winner.

Speaking of March Madness and brackets . . . it is sad that only four non-BCS conference schools made the big dance (Dayton, Xavier, BYU, and Butler). You wonder if the “power conferences” have influenced the committee to not select as many “mid-majors” as have been in the tournament in previous years (and for the most part done well). I hope these teams (especially those from the Atlantic-10 Conference) make some noise. Enjoy the college basketball!