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Schools

Tournament Time

The state and college basketball tournaments help my future become a little bit more clear.

As many of you know, the Hopkins Royals are being represented by both their boys and girls basketball teams in the state tournament. As I write this, I am watching the girls take on Eden Prairie for the class AAAA championship on television.

(Editors note: Hopkins won the championship. You can read more .)

As a sports fan, there is very little that gives me more school pride than athletic achievements.  Not only is it fun to have an exciting and competitive sports team to follow through a winning season, it gives me a way to connect with and take pride in my school.

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This year has been especially fun to be a fan of Hopkins as I have embraced the “Lindbergh Loony” culture knowing that this, my senior year, will be the final year for me to follow Royals basketball. (It is also easier to miss school for the games during the day—a nice perk of the state appearance.)

Being a senior, I have now had classes with many of the players on the both the boys and girls team, which is a very cool connection to have. It is always fun to watch a player light up an opposing team Tuesday night and then be able to talk to them about the game the next day.

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In a down year for Minnesota sports in the winter season, college and high school basketball has been a larger focus of mine. Why watch the Timberwolves get blown out again when I can attend a live basketball game and watch the Royals put on a show with a great fan experience to boot?

While flipping channels between the state tournament and March Madness, I saw a commercial that seemed pertinent to me. In the commercial, a man in full blue body paint is purchasing a drink from the concession stand at a basketball game. The camera follows the basketball fan to his seat where he begins to join in the “Rock chalk jayhawk”, the famous University of Kansas cheer.

The commercial ends with the statement, “The Rock Chalk Jayhawk  chant is March Madness”. Now perhaps I am simply caught up in the excitement of basketball with the state tournament underway and the NCAA tournament just beginning, but that commercial really resonated with me. I have a great feeling of civic pride—as seen in my love of Minnesota sports and music and Hopkins athletics. Seeing the amount of pride that KU students, alumni and employees have in their school is a very compelling argument for me to attend Kansas.

This past week I began the process of putting in my housing request at Kansas and have narrowed my decision down to the University of Kansas or Northwestern University, pending Northwestern’s admission decision. In all likelihood, I will be heading south to Lawrence, KS, late this summer to begin my collegiate experience.

I am already beginning to feel a sense of the Kansas community even though I haven’t decided completely that I will be attending the college. I find myself cheering for the basketball team when they are playing and even, perhaps unwisely, picked them to win the tournament in my bracket.

Hopefully, the Hopkins Royals will have secured two state basketball titles by college orientation, the Twins will be leading their division and I will have won my bracket.

Until then, go Royals and Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

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