#OneShiningMoment

There is nothing like it really — choreography, high-speed chess and a circus act, with feats of strength thrown in for good measure. I have watched a lot of basketball in my life, enough to know that even when Kris Jenkins and Nate Britt were ten year olds there was at least one moment that took your breath away and another that broke someone’s heart. And on a night like tonight, well anyone who wants to argue about the superiority of art over sport should know that the ability to see a seam between 7 moving people is no different than the ability to mix just that shade of blue; the exquisite movement from passer to recipient, a pas de deux of the highest order.
 
They have secrets these crews, or at least the best of them do. Hungry dogs run faster and so you will find them on playgrounds and in gyms at all hours of the day, in every city in the country, every age of man — outrunning their stories for as long as their shoes are inside the lines. And when the odds are in their favor they are gods — invincible and unknowable. But when the swish is at the buzzer and the perfect tying shot was not enough, then we see the places they are cracked and glued. The ways they are like us, except so very brave.

Such highs and lows. Such youth. Because this is what I know, tonight more than any other night as I watch face after face set to music. These are kids we have invested with such responsibility for our entertainment. The monster frontcourt replaced with jerseys covering faces wrenched with tears on one side while giddy grabass schoolboys cut down nets on the other. A contest played for audiences and budgets in millions, weighing on the backs of teenagers who will wager the only good thing they have for one more point, one less mistake, one misshapen final minute that somehow has 70 seconds. These are someone’s children. And they were so beautiful, so profoundly courageous in that screaming arena.
 
We owe them a thank you note for what they gave us tonight. We will rest well and waken to tomorrow’s life the same as today, but sleep will elude them — winners and losers alike. The heroes of Villanova will emerge with the astonishing realization that this was not enough; the beast must be fed and there will always be more to prove, while the boys in Carolina blue will feel the ache of this loss joining every other one they’ve ever known — of life, of people, and of this game they so dearly love.
 
Let us treat them tenderly and with gratitude as the sun rises and we discuss their magic over lunch and in break rooms. Let us remember the extraordinary gift we were given — the greatest hopes and deepest fears of these young hearts who asked nothing of us and gave us such a show.