Money man, money fan

PHOENIX, Ariz.  – So we’re sitting in the Phoenix airport.  Our plane to home leaves within an hour.  The University of Kansas men’s basketball team is playing Northern Iowa in the Big Dance.

It’s not going well.

We hunch over my laptop, Cindy to my left, Zach to my right. The video broadcast is intermittent, so we switch to just audio.  And we listen as KU, the alleged No. 1 team in the country, loses.  Badly.

I sensed as we were driving in to the airport that things would not go well.  It’s hard to carry the banner of “No. 1” most of the season without believing it is destiny.  But when Northern Iowa immediately bottled up KU’s vaunted offense, I knew it was trouble.

But what disturbs me now was the nature of my partisanship.   You see, Zach is a K-State student, but I was rooting for K-State’s nemesis, KU.   Why?  Because back in 2008, when KU won the national championship, we sold a lot of championship merchandise at my job.

Yeah, I publish books.  But I also sell stuff.  I was counting on KU to go all the way to another national championship.  Heck, nearly every bracket out there expected the same. It wasn't too much to expect, was it?

The truth is, I’m no longer a fan when I watch these games.  I’m a calculating money machine.

Sad.

In fact, when KU finally lost, I was so wound up, so upset, I couldn’t see the planes on the tarmac through the window straight ahead. My hands were shaking.  “I need to take a walk!” I pronounced, and off I stalked.

I don’t think Zach could believe my reaction.  Rooting for KU wasn’t necessarily the problem.  We live in Kansas, after all.  But getting so wrapped up in the necessity of a victory for financial reasons … that was the problem. I apologized to him later. 

I won’t get on a high horse about how money, driven by athletics, pollutes higher education.  But there’s little disputing it.  And now the NCAA wants to expand the Big Dance to 96 teams so it can make even more money – even though virtually every noted observer of college basketball says it’s a dumb idea.

KU is certainly “a playah” when it comes to making money. Just yesterday, I read in The Kansas City Star that Lew Perkins, athletic director of the University of Kansas, received compensation of $4.4 million in 2009 – much of it from performance bonuses – making him the highest paid state employee in Kansas.

I bet ol' Lew was really peeved when KU lost.

Sorry, Lew.  No sympathy.

And sure, I’m not above cashing in on KU’s success, because that’s my job.

But it’s not healthy.  And I think I’ve now tempered myself a bit.

You see, once KU got knocked out, K-State had its shot.  The Wildcats moved on to the Elite Eight and needed only to get by Butler University’s Bulldogs last night to arrive at the Final Four for the first time since 1964.

I had Final Four t-shirts on order; we were ready to start selling on our web store as soon as the last buzzer sounded.

But like KU, K-State faltered … and lost.  Too tired, perhaps, from the incredible double-overtime victory against Xavier in the Sweet Sixteen.

I was cool, calm when the last seconds faded away. Sad for Zach, of course, but circumspect about the loss. I didn’t rant … didn’t need a walk around the block. I had changed.

Somehow I’d let business become too personal – and too important.  It's a cliche but true: Life’s way too short for that.

It's best not to expect too much from your teams. 

Eh, which reminds me ... how about them Royals?