Maturity Levels

Yesterday, when the Northern Iowa Panthers defeated the Kansas Jayhawks, I felt so bad because I had picked Kansas to be the National Champions. It was not meant to be. I was upset and bad-mouthing the Kansas athletes who were so sad. I was thinking, "You mean you didn't see this coming? You're surprised to have lost? Considering that your only lead in this game was when it was 2-0?"

I posted this whiny entry on the famiy message board:

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The N. Iowa Panthers are a bunch of big fun-messer-upper-ruiners !!!
I'm getting no sympathy from my husband !!!
Good luck everybody.

My niece Shelly had a much better reaction to the whole thing - she took the attitude of a much more mature adult when she posted:

Way to go Northern Iowa, you have made some history. 40% of brackets on ESPN have now been ruined. Yes, I took Kansas to win it, but as I watched the game I couldn't help but cheer for the underdog. Maybe MSU will have a chance to go farther in the bracket. This sure is a fun year to watch the top seeds fall.

Then, my daughter Jana found a way to pique renewed interest in the tournament and gave us all something to look forward to. She posted this on Facebook:

Just in case anyone else is also confused, I just had to google to figger it out -- Ali Farokhmanesh is the N. Iowa dude who sunk the three-pointer; Al-Farouq Aminu is the Wake Forest dude. I now want Wake Forest and N. Iowa to get to the finals so they can play each other.

Another niece, Susan, validated Jana's plan:

Yes! Good for you. Now that we are no longer contenders we need to find something fun about this tournament and you did.

Well, gee whiz, these family members have all demonstrated maturity, acceptance, and grace under disappointment. I'm so proud of them! So I have changed my own attitude. I just have one thing to say: The KANSAS JAYHAWKS are a bunch of big fun-messer-upper ruiners.