Gotta love those Zag Nuts

The sun is shining. It's supposed to be 60 today. The mud is disappearing, and the Zags are playing tonight. It's a very good day.

I wrote my column for The River Journal about March Madness, which has a lot to do with basketball and a little to do with weather. When I wrote the column, I envisioned more snow, more gray, more rain and more mud by the time the paper hit the streets. In my mind, that was a given here in North Idaho. My main concern was whether or not the Zags would still be in the tournament when folks would be reading the column.

They are. They've made it to the Sweet Sixteen. They'll play UCLA tonight in Oakland. It's the weather that's made a liar out of me, but I don't mind either situation this morning. What could be better than a sunny March day in North Idaho topped off by a Zags game for dessert? We usually eat around 5:30 so that 6:57 tip-off is dessert time at our house.

At this point, the only thing that can surpass today's upbeat offerings is to see that pizza guy, who was on TV last night with his mobile unit serving up free pizza slices to the Gonzaga fans, doing the same in Indianapolis next weekend. Last night, the guy, who owns a pizza parlor near the Gonzaga campus, said that he's had a standing offer, for the past several years, that when the Zags go to the Final Four, his pizza truck will go along too. And, he'll hand out free pizza slices to all Zags fans.

Not a bad offer. If that happens, I'll promise to go to Second Avenue Pizza next week and hand out free pizza slices to all the Zags fans in this house---the husband, the dogs, the cats, and even the front-porch coon. It will be a good time at the Love House.

This Zag fever has turned a lot of folks I know into Zag Nuts, not to be confused with the tasty Butterfinger-type candy bar.

For example, my friend, Susan Drumheller, is a frustrated Zag Nut. She scheduled her open house for her brand-new Idaho Conservation League office for 7 p.m. tonight at the Pend Oreille Winery. She invited a lot of people, including the Love Zag Nuts, but when she scheduled her program, I don't think she had any idea she'd be competing with a television sports show.

Susan told me she loves the Zags, so that makes the conflict doubly hard to swallow. Maybe the winery folks could pull in a TV set, and the group can talk about conservation during the commercials. There ARE a lot of commercials during these games, so Susan's conservationists could get a lot of talking done.

Pat Gooby, our neighbor, stopped along Great Northern Road the other day to talk Zags with Bill, who was riding home from work on his bike. Pat had been just sick for days because he read in the Spokesman that Sean Mallon, who's graduating this spring, wasn't coming back next year, especially when he still has eligibility.

Well, both Bill and I, at first, read the same sentence in the story just like Pat did, but realized its wording was a bit confusing. On second read, we saw that Mallon's comment really said, "There's no way I won't come back next year."

When Bill explained the confusing wording and assured him that Sean Mallon would be coming back next year, Pat practically jumped out of his rig. When they parted company, Pat was happily headed home to tell the rest of the Gooby Gonzaga Nuts the good news about Mallon.

Readers may recall that my mother is a Zag Nut. She even has her pretty crimson-and-blue sweatshirt ready to wear while watching each game on her Colburn TV set. In fact, she's such a Zag Nut, she was wearing her sweatshirt last Wednesday morning in preparation for the team's NCAA opener against Xavier. Just one problem. The game wasn't until Thursday. When I told her it wasn't Thursday yet, she took it off to keep it nice and neat for the next day.

During that first NCAA near-death experience for Zags and their Zag Nuts, she confided to me that she'd prayed to Pope John Paul. She also confessed that she had almost removed her sweatshirt during the agonizing game. But she kept it on, and during those last three minutes, John Paul, the Pope and John Paul, the player and his teammates, came through with the miracle. Maybe I should report that to the Vatican Sainthood Panel.

My Zag Nut husband has been making frequent trips to Yoke's Pac n' Save, where they've been handing out those "Go Zag" cardboard posters on a first-come, first-serve basis. I learned, via telephone from Bill, AFTER last Thursday's Xavier miracle that he had distributed posters to friends and had even taken his personal poster to Boise to display during game time in the Safari Hotel room where he was staying. He's gone back to Yoke's this week and continues to hand out the posters to all potential Zag Nuts in his daily travels.

Yup, it's a good-looking day outside, and thousands of crazy Zag Nuts are up and about, going through the motions of the day with visions of Bulldog victory in their heads. If those 'Dogs can just run circles around the large and growly Bears tonight and find the basket enough times, the joy and insanity among the loyal multitude in Zag Nut kingdom will continue.

Go Zags!!!