3/30/13 - Recreating the Pancake Breakfast

After 9 months I finally caught my first tropical illness.  It doesn't seem to be anything worse than a normal winter cold back home, you just get caught off guard a little because you aren't expecting to get sick when its 90 degrees and humid outside.  Regardless, it knocked me off the blog trail for a few weeks, but we're back!  And just in time for the best 3 week period of the year - NCAA tournament time.  Because of being sick, consuming lots of water and tropical fruit, plus its once again test time at school, we haven't been too active the past few weeks.  Luckily the tournament provides the backdrop for a relatively entertaining story - with inspiration from both east and west.

One of the best parts about life are the random traditions that take root throughout the year.  Often they start so innocuously that you have problems pinpointing their exact start date.  It might be the food you eat on a certain holiday, looking at lights on Christmas, gathering at specific location for your birthday, or in this case, meeting on the edge of civilization to watch a weekend of basketball.  For too many years now, a group of friends have gathered in Hatfield, Wisconsin (population 50) in the woods, on a frozen lake to watch the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament.  It began with 4 guys watching the games on a 13" TV with an analog antenna signal that was so spotty you often couldn't read the score at the bottom of the screen.  At one point we were screaming and yelling because we thought it was a tie game and it turned out it was about a 20 point spread.  And yes, it was the TV signal and not the late night from before, that's our story and I'm sticking to it.  To quote Anchorman, 'Its the pancake breakfast, we do it every month."  In our case it was once a year and you didn't even have to ask what date you were expected to show up.

As with anything in life, the tradition evolved.  The 13" TV turned into a 17" TV.  Then it went from an analog signal to a digital signal and all of a sudden there was never a question about the score.  We had to relocate from sitting on the freezing cold tile floor in the sun room to the thinly carpeted loft because that was the only place the digital signal came in.  With digital, it either works or it does not.  Gone was our fuzzy analog signal that came in anywhere......well sort of came in anywhere.  We graduated from school and suddenly it wasn't as easy to get there.  Some people had a few hours drive, others were meeting in the airport before making the trek down.  At least it made for some interesting conversation starters at the local tavern - "Where are you from?" Texas, California, St. Paul - followed by a blank stare and then "Why are you here?!?"  At least we had our standard response, "Why wouldn't we be here?"

Unfortunately, the pancake breakfast had to take a temporary hiatus.  Domestic flights are one thing, but flying in from Asia or Europe for the weekend doesn't seem to work as well.  Sports for me has been one of the largest adjustments to living over here.  I've been lucky enough to watch a few football and basketball games, but watching them early in the morning without your usual group of friends isn't quite the same.  The lead up to the game is half the fun, now you roll out of bed, grab some coffee and turn the iPad on.  Finally, the stars have aligned themselves and I feel a bit like I've traveled back in time.  Basketball games are on late enough in the morning they don't seem unnatural and I'm watching them on a 10" screen that sometimes comes in crystal clear and at other times you're left wondering who's winning.  I haven't gotten worked up about an incorrect score yet, but I can feel it coming.  In honor of our movie inspiration, I even grabbed some local banana pancakes to add some eastern flair.  Turns out, you can recreate a tradition most places.  Now my only hope is they show the Division II National Championship Game tomorrow (inside joke).

Back to another tradition that knows no international boundaries - cheering against Duke!