UCONN Women’s Basketball Might be The Death of my Mom

Once again the UCONN women's basketball team is flirting with another National Title but this one is hitting home more than I ever expected.

My 88 year old mother was born in Connecticut, raised in Connecticut, raised her family in Connecticut and became a full fledged UCONN women's basketball junkie well before they were close to reaching the elite level they occupy at present.

I left Connecticut when I was 18 for the Big Sky of Idaho, skiing and Idaho State football. My mom and I always stayed in touch, that's the full time  job of an East coast mom and many of our conversations were about UCONN women's basketball.

The more they started to win the more I heard about the Lady Huskies.

Then mom put out the word...Do not call her on the phone when UCONN is playing! If somebody died, they'd still be dead after the game!

This was all good and well from two thousand miles away but in late 2017 my mom moved to Idaho. She lives in Eagle, I live in Eagle and this is our first UCONN women's basketball season together.

Her main concern upon arriving in Eagle was how to get every UCONN women's basketball game on television. "Who do you know at ESPN" she asked me.

Before I could respond mom shot back "Don't worry I'll take care of this myself." All-righty then!

Somehow she found and ordered the Madison Square Garden network which carried every UCONN women's basketball game not shown on other networks.

You know, I don't always like to watch these games by myself said mom. Obviously by seasons end I will either hate UCONN or accept my fate.

You have to understand she also follows the UCONN men's basketball team always comparing their play to that of the women. The men are selfish, they don't pass, they don't play team ball....not like the women. Even tough the men's coach seems like a nice guy, "He's gonna have to go" mom says.  Turns out she's also a great prognosticator.

To my surprise my phone rang the other night while UCONN was playing South Carolina in a quarter final NCAA game. Startled I looked at my wife and said, "It's my mom, must be halftime."

I took a chance and called her back. She was concerned, the Huskies were up by just 21 points at the half and she didn't have a good feeling. Are you watching she asked? Of course I am mom and you need to worry about your blood pressure, I think they have this.

Quickly switching to the game I watched as UCONN built a 30 point lead with three minutes to play. Satisfied my mom would live to see another game I went back to prime time TV.

I admit, she did survive the OT loss to Mississippi State, at the buzzer no less, in last years final 4 but she was 87 then. Yes, the Huskies have won 147 of their last 148 games which is pretty darn good and in a perfect world they have two more games to play this season. Friday against Notre Dame and then Sundays championship against either Louisville or Mississippi State.

No doubt I'll be on standby this weekend for support, emergency transportation and possibly a celebratory dessert. A good plate of brownies is always worth having close by...for medicinal purposes of course.

Go Huskies!