At the end of the Men’s College Basketball National Championship, Jim Nantz of CBS a broadcaster who has called 32 Final Fours, signed off with a small quote, that caught my attention for many reasons, Jim said, “Everyone has a story, and everyone has a dream." Those words this year and the run that UCONN had inside the tournament, took on extra meaning for me this time of year.

While I have faithfully watched the NCCA Tournamant since I was eight years old, the Monday night of the Championship game has been my only religion, I have yet to miss that game, no matter where I have been.

With UCONN’s run thru the tournament, and their televisied games, what they also provided for me was a topic of conversation with my Mother who is battling Alzheimers’s and attened UCONN, wherein she met my father, and they have been married since. 

While the disease ravages her short term memory, the UCONN’s Men’s basketball games, have turned into a conversation piece that injects some positive emotions, in my daily interactions which at times are painful, sad, introspective, and relevatory.

While my Mom’s battle of Alzheimers, has been front and center, another story resonated with me, and that was the public narrative around the Uconn coach Danny Hurley, and his early struggles with mental health, and overcoming walking away for a period of time of the game of basketball altogether.

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