From the sidelines

March Madness has begun, and I must admit that this time of the year pushes me to the limit, and friends are thinking of doing an intervention with me because of my addiction that keeps me on track and able to stay awake longer to watch all of those basketball games.

My dealer is such a cutie that I cannot refuse, and I have spent too much money buying from her. So, I must take this moment to slide away from the sports desk and confess publicly that I have a problem.

I hope everyone can understand, but I cannot stop. I cannot help myself. I need more. I am addicted.

I have always been told that admitting the addiction helps in working toward recovery.

In many ways, I’m ashamed, but I’m only human.

I’m not the only person that has this habit. It is spreading like wildfire, and politicians might need to pass an ordinance or something. It has to stop.

This problem is bigger than anyone will admit. I’m sure there are many local leaders out there dealing with the same thing. Maybe we should form a support group or something.

I just know it is too much for me to bear. So, I take this opportunity to explain myself and hope it will help others facing the same problem.

I have smuggled several square packets of it to work and hid several in my vehicle. I have also hidden several throughout the house so I can reach them in a moment’s notice.

I really don’t know how it started, but I am an addict.

I am addicted to eating Girl Scout cookies. I can’t stop. I’m not talking the normal ones either. I am talking about the peanut and now the s’mores. I initially bought two boxes of each, and now I have four more sitting in the kitchen.

One friend said they wouldn’t last the week. I have managed to only eat a few here and there. I know I must stop, but they are so addictive.

ABC Bakeries are one of two companies that make the cookies. They provided these interesting facts about the cookies:

• In the 1920s and 1930s, Girl Scouts in different parts of the country baked their own simple sugar cookies and sold them to raise money for their activities.

• The first documented council-wide sale of commercially baked cookies took place in Philadelphia in 1934.

• The first national Girl Scout Cookie sale was held in 1936.

• Over the years, cookie varieties have come and gone in response to changing consumer tastes. However, Shortbread has been around from the early days. The only modification to this traditional favorite has been two “facelifts”—one in 1979 and one in 2010, both to mirror updates to the Girl Scouts service mark.

• Thin Mints is the top-selling Girl Scout Cookie in America!

• In 1948, a total of 29 companies were licensed to bake Girl Scout Cookies. Today there are two official Girl Scout Cookie bakers. ABC Bakers has been an officially licensed Girl Scout Cookie baker for more than 75 years.

• Each season, Girl Scouts sell almost 200 million packages of Girl Scout Cookies.

• Caramel, cooked to a rich creamy consistency, and a special toasted flaked coconut make ABC’s Caramel deLites the second-best-selling Girl Scout Cookie and place it in the top five of cookies sold in the United States, annually.

• All of ABC’s Girl Scout Cookie varieties are cholesterol free.

• For every box of Girl Scout Cookies you buy, more than two-thirds of your purchase price is put to use by Girl Scout councils in your community.

• By eliminating the box for Thanks-A-Lot, Girl Scout S’mores, and Lemonades Girls Scout Cookies, Girl Scouts of the USA and ABC Bakers are taking hundreds of tons of paperboard out of the waste stream annually. That’s at least enough paperboard to fill 14 garbage trucks and yields energy savings equivalent to 30,000 gallons of gasoline.

• Thin Mints, Thanks-A-Lot, Lemonades and Peanut Butter Patties Girl Scout Cookies are vegan.

• All of ABC’s Girl Scout Cookie varieties have a trans-fat value of zero grams per serving and have NO partially hydrogenated oils.

• Thanks-A-Lot Girl Scout Cookies speak five different languages—English, Spanish, French, Chinese, and Swahili.

• The cookies are made with pure vegetable shortening and all eight varieties are kosher, certification that is provided by the Orthodox Union Rabbinical supervision. Each package is marked with the circle UD emblem.

• ABC does not use any artificial preservatives or artificial colors in our Girl Scout Cookies.

• Imitated but never duplicated, Peanut Butter Patties- have been in the Girl Scout Cookie line for more than 30 years. They are the third-best-selling Girl Scout Cookie and are among the top 10 best-selling cookies in America.

Help a Girl Scout, buy some cookies today and get ready for March Madness and the best time for college basketball.