Any player who says they aren't nervous is lying. You are minutes away from stepping onto the court in front of thousands of fans and unless you are a top 4 seed the majority won't be yours. You know millions more are watching at home thanks partly to the spirit of the tourney and mostly to vegas. Since the selection friends, family, and alumni have been coming out of the woodworks to let you know they will be watching which is really to say don't let them down.

Before the game, coach gives a pregame talk but you aren't listening. You have heard it all before and none of it matters. Not now. Now it is about you and your brothers whom you have battled with since 6am conditionings in August. Through 2 a days, 3 a days, winning streaks, losing streaks, empty home games, 8 hour bus rides, and coach's bullshit. Somehow you managed to stay together, connected to a collective vision bigger than any one man. Through it all you kept climbing together and what you have to show for it is a bond that can't be bent or broken. No amount of haters, doubters, groupies, or supports can infiltrate your sanctum.

In the tunnel you stand, arms around one another's shoulders circled around an invisible pool that has collected all of the blood, sweat, tears, accomplishments, setbacks, laughs, fights, stories, and passion from the entire season. As captain you step into the pool, channel all of that energy to remind your brothers one last time what this is all about. Us. Our team, our dream, our destiny. To pour our hearts contents out onto the court for the man on either side because you damn well know he will doing the same for you.

With that you run into the bright lights. Onto the court where 15,000 Duke fans chuckle at little Lehigh. Where millions of fans turned the channel having marked this game as over before it started.

You don't blame them. They didn't know. They weren't in the circle with you. They couldn't feel the power in our pool.

When you won, you weren't surprised. You had expected to win from the moment you drew their name. Because you knew the power in your pool. Others made a big deal out of the game. Calling it the greatest upset in NCAA history. You laughed at this idea. An upset.

Damn these protons.

To hell with this electromagnetic force.

Abandon ye helices of deoxyribonucleic acid who enter here.

I am the idea, the ether, the 95% of air that swims between the raindrops, the taste beyond the tips of tongues, the unbelieved deity, the anti-sky beyond our light horizon, and the final sequence to the next Big Bang's launch code...

...for all I know.

Some say this is an old topic and it's getting annoying but I believe this is a strong opinion.

"Homosexuals are evil."

Nope

"It's a sin to be homosexual."

Try again

"It's in the bible."

No, you're wrong.

It is not in the bible. That is simply the English language misinterpreting the bible and the language it was originally written in.

In the original text it says nothing of the sort. In those famous verses that everyone seem to be referring to are actually saying at least the three following. Prostitution. Prostitution was very common in the temple at that time and was done frequently. Adultery. It is also saying adultery is wrong, again not homosexuality. At that time, soldiers were going to war for long periods of time with the young boys they were teaching.

Basically they weren't getting any action in the bedroom and decided to fulfill their needs on these young boys. That is not homosexuality, that is adultery. And third wheeling. When the bible says "a man shall not lay with another man as he does his wife..." It's believed to state that THIRD WHEELING is wrong. Even aside from all of that the bible does say to not pass judgement and love thy neighbor as yourself. Now that IS in the bible.

Besides, since when does it say that two people can't share a loving and committed relationship with each other if they are of the same sex?

Now people do bring up that old phrase "God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve." That the absence of the reproduction organs proves that it is wrong, but isn't there more to love then reproduction? Yes, there is.

And finally, for those of you who think being homosexual is a choice, if out of all of this, if you are wrong about one thing, it's this. Did you wake up and decide that you would be "straight" today and then tomorrow you would just be homosexual? If someone told you to change which sex you were attracted to, could you? Some of you would probably say no because you wouldn't want to but I ask that you really think about that question.

But perhaps this is just another opinion, misinterpreting and misreading what the bible says to fit what some want to believe. I hope not though.

I hope I didn't offend anyone with this post. You can comment or message if you want. I don't pass judgement on opinions. I'm open to questions but I don't know all the answers. I haven't completely studied the bible. I know some will now probably not believe this even more now but this is my opinion (and others) I know that because it is an opinion it is nowhere near fact but there are facts used within this post.

Thank you,

Lynn