Maui Invitational, Day 3: Everyone had fun

During each television timeout, the Maui Invitational has goofy competitions on the court—make a free throw while sitting in a lawn chair! Dribble two enormous basketballs from one end of the court to the other! Stuff like that.

The fellow emceeing this stuff will ask the contestants their name and who they’re rooting for. Typically there’s a person pulled from each of the fan bases to compete against each other, but there was one lady who said she’s just rooting for “everyone.” And I thought, you know what, that’s really the spirit of the event, anyway.

Now sure, I could get caught up in the lackadaisical nature of NC State’s perimeter defense against Texas, or perhaps I might dwell on how unusually well the Longhorns shot the ball. Perhaps I might be wearied by the many foolish fouls away from the basket. Or frustrated by the inconsistency of the team’s offensive production over the last three days.

But you know what, sitting in that gym, it’s actually pretty difficult to be upset about anything. I’m finding that it is very difficult to be bummed out about sports things when you’re in Maui. That’s part of the appeal to this event, I figure. Sure, I could dwell on basketball, or I could just get a beer and walk to the beach. The important thing is everyone had fun.

This is a hell of a trip even when you’re watching your team lose two out of three games, and being able to just kind of wander around a building this small doesn’t lose its novelty at any point. It’s really fun to be able to get super close to the floor without 14 different guys with lanyards running at you. That’s the best part of the experience by far: it is as authentically small-time and relaxed as it looks on television. None of these games were sold out, so you could pretty much choose your perspective.

So I think everyone had fun. I know I did. And once you get back out of the building after a loss, you remember that, oh, right, it’s Maui. That doesn’t hurt.