Day Thirteen -- What are you excited about?

Isn’t it so amazing to sit back and watch the things that excite people?  Sometimes it is the little things, while other times it is the much larger scale actions that bring excitement and enjoyment in to people’s lives.  Kids are often the most excitable of all – getting a good grade in school, receiving a new toy, scoring a goal in their game, so many things bring so much joy in to their lives.  For adults, it is sometimes a little harder to see the excitement that is so evident upon a child’s excited face.  For me personally both a mixture of small and large things can bring excitement in to my life.  I can be as easily excited if someone likes/comments a post on my social media accounts, just as much as receiving some nice item as a gift.  Sometimes it is the smaller things that even hold more long term excitement and enjoyment in our lives. 

For me to choose one single thing or event that I am most excited about, will nearly be impossible, but I will strive to narrow it down.  Of course, I’m excited about our yearly State Fair, but since that is not coming until October, I’ll hold off on choosing that.  I am 100% excited about the revival of The X-Files, which comes back on FOX this Sunday, January 24^th (provided my local FOX station gets their act together and renegotiates with DirectTV so I can even watch it -- I am NOT happy about that!), but since I just recently wrote a prior blog on The X-Files, I won’t even choose that.  Sooooooo…, where shall I go from here?  Easy – BASKETBALL!!!

It is just a little over a month until the ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament in Greensboro, and that is one event I absolutely, hands-down always look forward to attending yearly.  In my personal opinion, the ACC has the BEST women’s basketball teams as a collective of all the conferences in the NCAA.  When you have the caliber of teams and coaches that the ACC has to offer, you just cannot go wrong.  In my case, it is nearly impossible to choose a favorite team.  I live in Raleigh, North Carolina, surrounded by four of the ACC schools, and yes, while I am a season ticketholder at NC State, it does not mean I won’t support my other ACC schools like Florida State, Notre Dame, Miami, Georgia Tech and all the others, well except the TarHeels, I just can’t do that!  

While I am looking forward to the ACC Tournament in early March, there are several key games that I am as equally excited about attending during the regular conference season.  Most notably, I am excited about three key match-ups in particular:  Notre Dame at Duke, Florida State at Duke and Florida State at NC State.  Both Notre Dame and Florida State have become fast favorites for me.  I’ve always been longtime supporters of both schools, but with the quality of their athletes and the tremendous leadership of ACC and National Coaches of the Year, Muffet McGraw and Sue Semrau, you can’t possibly go wrong cheering for either of those schools.  If I could only take a road-trip to Tallahassee for the ultimate match-up between those two teams, I might just be on cloud nine!

Additionally, one of the most exciting basketball events that I attend regularly is Hoops for Hope that was created by legendary coach Kay Yow as a way to raise awareness for breast cancer that plagues so many women today.  Coach Yow was one of my all-time role models and heroes.  I loved the ground she walked on and loved how she was not afraid to stand-strong in her faith in God.  She has influenced so many lives world-wide. At times, it is still hard for me to believe she is no longer physically here coaching games at NC State, but it never fails that when I attend an NC State game, I can feel her presence at the game.  She would be so proud of the accomplishments not only of the Wolfpack Women, but of all the ACC coaches and their teams.  I encourage each of you to try to either attend Hoops for Hope or a Play4Kay game during the month of February in your local area.  Let’s keep Coach Yow’s memory going not only through basketball, but also by raising awareness through the Kay Yow Cancer Fund of the various cancers that can hopefully one day be cured. 

May you all find something in your life that you are passionate about and something that brings excitement to you – big or small, be on the lookout because there is always something that can keep us excited.  And just as a kind courtesy, what may not be exciting to you, could very easily be monumental to someone else.  I appreciate my friends who tolerate me when I get excited over something so small, so I always try to respect them when something excites them, as well.  Enjoy life and go to a basketball game and cheer on a team!