Hear me out...Return from the winter sabbatical

It’s been awhile since my last column and a lot has happened while I’ve been away on my winter sports postseason sabbatical.

- The NFL has turned into the NBA with trades flying around left and right and the Cleveland Browns might actually be good next season. This God-given planet we have produces countless mind-blowing wonders daily but the Browns, THE CLEVELAND BROWNS, being competitive and competent, is just too much to comprehend right now.

- Tiger Woods might be back and love him, hate him; he’s good for golf. As a fan of Tiger, short of my favorite team’s winning championships, this is the best sports news of 2018. His second-place finish at the Valspar Championship is hopefully a sign of another dominant stretch coming.

- The NCAA is trying their hardest to keep their shame of an operation going. Excluding the poorly reported Sean Miller/wiretap story, the FBI investigation is clearly showing the amateurism aspect of the high-profile college sports is a joke, and the sole purpose of not paying the athletes is because they do not want to share the money. College football and basketball are billion dollar industries and everyone surrounding the workforce is given monetary compensation. And if a player wants a cut for their work they’re punished. The NCAA is a complete farce and the sooner it is put to pasture, with the likes of other defunct businesses Blockbuster and Toys R’ Us, the better we’ll be off.

- Speaking of the NCAA, the basketball tournament is in full swing and nothing is a better reminder that you don’t know jack when filling out a bracket. I’ve filled out 10 brackets on ESPN and usually by the weekend I don’t need to worry about checking any of them. Thankfully Arizona swooped in and said “You know what, by the end of the first day we’ll make sure you won’t need to check those brackets, like at all.” For entertainment purposes, I filled out two serious brackets. One is non-biased and the other is a desperate attempt to wish Kansas to a national title, even though their roster is essentially all guards. Here are my Final Four picks for the unbiased bracket: MSU, Villanova, Arizona and Gonzaga; with MSU defeating Virginia in the title game. My fanhood got the best of me bracket: Kansas, UNC, Villanova and Arizona; Kansas over UNC in the title game.

Of the fall, winter and spring sports, the winter postseason is the busiest. There’s so much going on week to week; it’s hectic but a fun hectic. During my sabbatical I was in Casper, Lander and Douglas covering the Burlington Huskies, Worland and Thermopolis basketball and Worland and Thermopolis wrestling postseason journeys.

Last year was my first time experiencing the winter postseason, everything flew by and I never really got to just appreciate the many memorable moments. This year though, while still fast-paced and maybe even a bit more hectic, it was easier to enjoy this postseason.

Part of that enjoyment has to do with covering these teams for another season and knowing all the ups and downs that happened last year. For example, the Worland wrestling team last year ended regionals and state on a disappointing note, finishing nowhere near their potential. But this year they won the 3A East regional tournament, which was hosted here in Worland, and placed third at state. It was a great turnaround to witness.

On the basketball court, both Worland teams had their highs and lows this season and were being written off as two-and-out at regionals, but when it mattered most, they played their best basketball of the season to make it to the state tournament. The best part of Worland’s run was, either talking with fellow media members or listening (I know it’s not polite but it’s hard not to eavesdrop at tournaments) to the conversation of other fans because the common theme in those conversations was “This was supposed to be a rebuilding season for Worland. How are they still able to make it to state?”

Finally there was the Burlington Huskies. Going for their fifth-straight 1A championship that would have been the second-longest streak in Wyoming basketball history, the Huskies were literally seconds away from pulling it off but a last-second putback by Kaycee dashed those hopes. For me, having just covered the Worland teams’ victories that locked up their spots for state it was quite the differing moods.

One moment I’m making my way through enthusiastic and proud Worland fans; a few hours later I’m working my way around stunned and saddened Burlington fans who just want to hit the reset button on the Xbox. It was quite the yin and yang sports moment.

But what I liked the most from that Burlington loss was the reaction from the team. There was no pouting, nothing about the refs out to get them, they accepted the results. And for the players coming back the fire was lit to start another Burlington championship streak.

Those were just a few of the many highlights from this memorable winter postseason, and I can’t wait until next year.