I love basketball! It is my all time favorite sport. So this is my favorite time of the year for sports, with the ACC championship just ended and the NCAA tournament about to begin. I am somewhat glued to the TV. I am a Virginia undergrad and UAB master’s grad, and my husband is a Duke (MBA) and NCSU (undergrad and Ph.D)grad, so we especially follow those teams. Virginia and NCSU did not make it to the NCAA tournament. I am holding onto hope that Duke will go all the way, with or without Cooper Flagg.

Sports can teach us something about life, quite a lot, in fact. As I watch basketball, I am struck by how the players play their hearts out until the very end. They just keep going, regardless of the score or their odds of winning. There is a lesson for us in this. Regardless of what is going on in us or around us, we need to just keep going. Even when it is tempting to do so, we should not quit! We need to just keep going! Nothing is accomplished by quitting. Even when the odds are against us, if we keep going, we have a chance to beat the odds. When we quit, we surrender.

I started this blog while watching Duke and Louisville battle it out for the ACC championship. That game was like most of the others that I watched this past weekend, too close to call until the very end. I watched UNC fall to Duke, and Auburn and Alabama both lose, and UAB win, then lose to Louisville. In the ACC championship game, Louisville played hard and could have won, but didn’t; Duke prevailed. Duke won the regular season and the ACC championship, the first time for winning both since 2006. And without Coach K! Coach Jon Scheyer has proven that Duke can win without Coach K and without Cooper Flagg. As several Duke players said, it is a team; it is not about one person, regardless of how talented is that one person.

My dear beloved Uncle Barry who passed away in 2021 at the age of 90 said many times, “Just keep going as long as you can, for there will come a time when you can’t.” He was so right, and he did keep going until the very end, when he no longer could.

Do you Just Keep Going, even when it is hard to do so? Do you Just Keep Going until the very end, until the bell rings and the game (whatever your game is) is over?

Here comes March Madness and the NCAA. Many players and many teams, all vying for the championship. All Keeping Going as long as they can. A lesson for all of us.

Just Keep Going!