24, where impossible happens...

...so number 24, 28 Days to the Center of Sergio moves forward, as does my heightened-level of anxiousness to get home. The title, 24, "where impossible happens", considering the NBA playoffs are at the pinnacle of importance with one of the greatest sports rivalries under way, the Celtics vs the Lakers, you would correlate 24 with Kobe Bryant. Even more so considering the title is "where impossible happens", nothing more suiting to describe a player who makes the impossible look easy. Well, your wrong. While 24 represents some of my child hood super stars such as Ken Griffey Jr. and Charles Woodson, it has nothing to do with them either.

Growing up you always hear, "nothing is impossible"; however, the older you get the more you come to terms with the fact that some dreams and aspirations are impossible. It is a shame, that fire you had once as a child, dreaming you could become the next president or astronaut, all but diminish when those very aspirations met the reality of the world. However, I would like to think that on any given day, even if for a couple hours, impossible can manifest itself into something great, something possible.

If you do not know, my mother is one of the biggest UCLA fans in the world. Win or lose, rain or shine, on Monday or Wednesday, she roots for them regardless. So you can imagine the amount of UCLA football and basketball games I watched growing up. Take into account it was already an athletic-based household, the number was staggering. In the midst of all that Columbia blue and gold, the idea of "where impossible happens" came knocking.

I was 9 years old, the UCLA mens basketball team was coming off a championship season and entered March Madness at the 4 seed vs 13th seeded Princeton. Princeton, an Ivy League school, known more for its academics than its athletics, resembled nothing but a speck in the tradition that was and still is today, UCLA basketball. However on that night "impossible is nothing" gave a 9 year old boy hope, that in fact anything is possible. Princeton upset the Bruins, making it the first time since '88 where a defending champion had been eliminated in the first round. In the midst of some of the greatest Bruins to ever play, the brainy ivy leaguers showed the nation that no matter what the odds, what the prediction, the only thing that matters is the outcome.

I suppose Princeton, New Jersey, is a breeding ground, or resting place, for the term "where impossible happens". I say this because so many people who exemplified "where impossible happens" are tied back to Princeton. Richard Stockton, signer of the US Declaration of Independence, lived and was buried there, Woodrow Wilson, the 28th President of the US resided there as well. But to truly define "where impossible happens" look no further than former resident and now buried in Princeton, the only man to be elected President of the US twice, Grover Cleveland. Now that is when impossible, on a rare occasion, meets possible. To be elected the President of the greatest country in the world, the United States. Grover Cleveland, the 22nd President of the US, and number 24 as well.