It was probably the biggest shot ever made in the history of Kansas basketball. - Bill Self

BREAKING NEWS: Classes are cancelled for Tuesday in celebration of the championship winWe'll start with a little good luck charm...praying to the basketball gods during a hike on Loch Ness on Sunday...

Then anxiously awaiting a 2:20am tipoff, clad in everything Kansas (the more good vibes sent up to the basketball gods, the better).And as if Dr. Naismith, Phog Allen, and Adolph Rupp got Mario the ball and gifted overtime to the boys. Just in time, as I was jumping up and down and hiding behind my hands and would have screamed and woken up the whole damn neighborhood.

Watching a team like KU isn't always fun. They play it so close that all I want to do is scream at the television and throw something. It would be interesting to monitor my heart rate during one of these close games. And it would probably be worth it to see a shrink to ensure that crying my eyes out at 5:00 in the morning after winning a national championship with only my laptop for company does not constitute a mental condition.That's how I had to watch the game...hooked up to Matt's monstrous television, squinting to watch on a fifth of the screen, but it still beats listening via a bad connection, which I've had to do before. And what a wonderful testament to a team that is a lovely bunch of guys who work hard and have such a great time out there. I want nothing more than to be in Lawrence, Kansas right now.

What is it about competition that touches the soul? Is it seeing a sport played well, or knowing the stories of the players? The constant of supporting a particular team for your whole life? Or perhaps having played a sport, imagining how it must feel, to juxtapose insane pressure with the love of the game. The magic of living in the moment that doesn't happen in the other facets of our lives.

I (heart) technology. In the age of YouTube, Chalmers' shot will live on forever. (forward to 3:41 to see the final....!!!)

Other things...going to London next week for the Book Fair, which is this massive event that twists the fiction writer's reality and reminds him or her that publishing is a business first, not a vehicle for the writer's pontifications. Meeting with my agent, which will be good. The rewrite is nearly finished, and far stronger than my last. I've found it difficult to get the matrix in my head onto the page, but it's getting there. This project is tedious, time-consuming, and frustrating as hell, but that craving is still there. The parallels to the yearning of the sportsman can't be ignored. Belief in your talent, in your support system, in what you know you're capable of achieving - cheesy as it may sound, it's the only damn thing to cling to when life isn't cooperating quite yet.
(Taken just an hour after above prayer shot, after our walk on Loch Ness in the sunshine turned into a blizzard. Perhaps foreshadowing the confetti after a KU win.)