Oh how I love the madness of March.  The NCAA Tournament has slowly become one of my favorite sporting events of all time.  I have always been obsessed with sports and a big college basketball fan.  But growing up I only really watched the tournament if the Razorbacks were playing or if it was down to the Final Four.  But then came spring break of my freshmen year of college.  All my friends were off on their grand adventures, while I was stuck at home with a broken leg.  So what did I do? I watched basketball. All day long. I think I watched every game possible for the first four rounds of the tournament.  And it was awesome.

I had no idea how addicting this tournament could be.  That year I got to watch as two #1 seeds were taken down in the second round. It was thrilling tourney filled with several buzzer-beaters and plenty of upsets.  By the end of the first round I was hooked and without my Hogs to root for and my bracket pick Kentucky ousted in the second round, I found myself hooping and hollering at the TV while cheering on the underdogs.  With the loss of top seeded and heavily favored KU last weekend, I have found myself in a similar position and loving it.

Why is it so fun to root for the underdog?  Why is half of the country about to gather in front of their televisions to cheer on Northern Iowa as they get ready to take on Michigan State for a chance to make it to the Regional Finals?

I love it so much because they are accomplishing something bigger than they are capable of.  They are playing outside of themselves.  Northern Iowa didn’t beat Kansas last week because they are a better basketball team. Everybody knows that.   Likewise, the majority of the good things I have accomplished have less to do with how good I am, but more with how good and gracious my God is. Whenever I watch the underdogs pull it out, I am reminded of what is possible when I stop trying to do things on my own strength and learn to rely on others and the strength given to me by God.