March Madness has revealed the first Cinderella team of the 2014 tournament. In a hard fought battle, underdog Spring beat Winter in several week-long overtimes. As you may know, Spring wasn’t a 15 or 16 seed. It wasn’t assigned a seed.
At. All.
Instead, the battered season was the recipient of several daffodil bulbs, so shriveled and ugly they were immediately buried underground and forgotten. Until yesterday, when the calendar proclaimed the arrival of spring, but everyone scoffed because what kind of Cinderella comes to the party wearing glass snow boots?
Spring does.
She comes, dressed wrong, and with Winter’s cruel, icy fingers gripping her neck, determined to strangle the life out of her. (Where are the refs when you need ’em?) But, spunky little Spring rallied valiantly, never letting her daffodil bulb status dampen her enthusiasm. Despite insurmountable odds, Spring believed in herself when everyone else believed this:
She could never manage a come back.
I confess, I didn’t think Spring would make it until a peek out our bedroom window proved me wrong. There sat Spring, in all her green glory, her daffodil foliage basking in the sun, her presence proclaiming what no one thought possible.
You can’t stop me, Winter. I am here!
And here she’ll stay. She’s the true Cinderella team of March Madness, 2014. She’s proof that sometimes impossible dreams do come true, that underdogs can win, and that new life hides in unexpected places. So take heart, winter-weary friends!
Spring is here. And the game is on.
