bracketology...

March Madness has begun! And as of right now I am about half and half with my picks. It is a tradition, for as long as I can remember, for my dad to help give me advice on who I should choose in certain games. This has won me everything from money, to gift certificates to the sheer pride of knowing I am better at picking college basketball games than anyone else.

This year I have two brackets running. The first being my realistic bracket in which I have Kansas winning the whole tourny, and the second being my wishful thinking bracket with my one and only Duke Blue Devils winning. So far the realistic bracket is not doing so hot and must say that Dad and I were not on the same page of teams this year. Hopefully I wont be getting too many more wrong, so I can win some MOOLAH!

Now on to tell you about one of the highlights of my life and it involves Duke Basketball.

Many years back, Duke had this amazing player named Shane Battier. He was this light skinned, wrinkly headed AMAZING basketball player for Duke. He went on to play basketball in the NBA for the Grizzlies, then the Rockets. My favorite basketball player of all time and for a while was going to be my future husband. :D When I was a sophomore in college I attended Elon University's graduation to support some of my friends for finishing college. As I was sitting in the audience I heard a name called across the stage

"Ashley Battier"

Internal monologue.
"Wait, did they just say Ashley Battier? That's Shane's sister. That means Shane must be here. OMFG I must go find him. Would he really be here. No he has to have games or training or something. Can I get up in the middle of the ceremony? I Have to go call mom..."

I proceeded to the back of graduation, which was the parking lot behind all of the chairs, and called my mom.

"MOM! OMG YOU WILL NEVER BELIEVE WHAT I JUST HEARD." I then told her the whole inner monologue and then set a mission for myself. "I WILL FIND SHANE BATTIER"

She wished my good luck and I hung up. At that moment, this 6 foot 8 inch man with a white polo and duke undershirt walked by...

SHANE BATTIER!!!

I freak out and start thinking to myself, "Cant I ask him for a picture? OMG I have to get a picture, I have to tell him how much of a fan I am. Is this inappropriate? I know its his sisters graduation, what do I do?"

So finally I went up to this man and asked, "Excuse me, are you Shane Battier?"

From there one of the best moments of my life happened. He replied, "Yes!"
I proceeded to take a picture with him and ramble on about how much of a fan I was and how grateful I was that he took a picture with me. Ultimately he was one of the sweetest guys and so humble.

This is the product of that amazing day at Elon University's graduation!

Enjoy!
xo