Neighbors keep sports alive through stories

Matt St.

Jean sits down with two Bulldog super fans who take him on a trip down memory lane.

March madness.

This is normally my favorite time of the year.

March madness has so much meaning and history for me.

My dad and i have picked a bracket on the same march madness white board since 1996.

Yes, the same year the bulldogs made a run into the final four.

Every year on the monday after selection sunday, my dad and i would grab dry-erase markers and the sports section of the boston globe and pick our teams. when i moved away from home, we'd skype.

It's our tradition.

I want to say i won more years than i lost and of course there was the cheating scandal of 2000 where my dad maintains to this day that he drafted eventual national champion michigan state and it mysteriously became my team after the sweet sixteen...my memory is a bit fuzzier on that.

I'm sure every college basketball fan has their own story about march madness and that's the point.

Even though sports are gone for right now, the memories, the stories remain.

And i was reminded of that yesterday, when i visited with a pair of fans that took me on a stroll down memory lane.

(track) at the corner of winterset and shadowood in the timber cove subdivision in starkville, lives two neighbors, ken hood and carol read.

They not only live across from each other, but own season tickets next to each other at dudy noble.

(ken) we were also in the same sunday school class.

(track) we got together to talk about how there aren't any sports anymore the conversation took a turn.

The memories started to come out.

Read has been a season ticket holder since 1976.

Her fondest memory (carol) the 85 team of course.

(track) the 85 baseball team that featured future major leaguers like will clark, rafael palmeiro and jeff brantley.

Read was a foster parent for the team.

After playing their weekend series, the boys would come knocking on the door.

(carol) so sunday night they would come to the house, and we would cook for them we would do chicken on the spit and they would all eat half a chicken except for will, he'd eat a whole chicken.

(track) hood remembers the exact moment he became a bulldog for life.

(ken) i was 11 years old, in 1964, i grew up in west point mississippi so i was in the boy scouts and we were ushering.

That was my first experience on campus to see a live mississippi state sporting event when i was 11, and uh i fell in love with the place that day absolutely i never will forget it.

(track) even after the mic was turned off and i was packing up my gear, these two old friends kept reminiscing.

I just stood there and smiled as read and hood traded remember whens.

Because that's true beauty of sports.

The friendships.

The memories.

And that's something no postponements or cancellations can take away.

According to espn, new orleans saints head